На улице темно, но фонари уже горят.

It is dark outside, but the streetlights are already on.

Breakdown of На улице темно, но фонари уже горят.

• но: but
• фонарь: the streetlight
• уже: already
• темно: dark
• на улице: outside
• гореть: to be on (to be lit)

Questions & Answers about На улице темно, но фонари уже горят.

Why is it на улице and not something like в улицу or на улица?

Because улица is in the prepositional case after the preposition на when it means “(being) on/in the street” (location, not motion).

• на улице = “outside / in the street (area)” (location)
• на улицу (accusative) would be used with motion: выйти на улицу = “to go out onto the street”
  Russian often uses на with open/public places like streets, squares, markets.

What part of speech is темно here? Why isn’t it an adjective like тёмная?

темно is a predicative adverb / category of state (often taught as “short-form impersonal predicate”), used to describe a general situation: “It’s dark.”
You’d use an adjective like тёмная only if you were describing a noun:

• На улице темно. = “It’s dark outside.” (no subject)
• Тёмная улица. = “a dark street” (describing улица as a noun)

Why is there no word for “it” in На улице темно?

Russian often forms “weather/condition” sentences impersonally, without a subject. The idea of “it” is built into the structure.
So Темно. Холодно. Жарко. are complete sentences meaning “It’s dark/cold/hot.”

Why is the comma used: На улице темно, но ...?

Because но (“but”) connects two independent clauses, and Russian normally uses a comma before но in that situation:

• [Clause 1], но [Clause 2].
  Here: На улице темно
  • фонари уже горят are two full clauses.

Can I switch the word order? For example: Но фонари уже горят first?

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and changing it changes emphasis. For example:

• На улице темно, но фонари уже горят. (neutral: dark outside, but lamps are on)
• Фонари уже горят, но на улице темно. (emphasis: lamps are on, yet it’s still dark)
  In writing, keep the comma with но.

Why is it фонари (plural) and not фонарь?

фонари is the plural of фонарь (“street lamp/lantern”). The sentence presents a general scene: typically multiple lamps are on.
You can use singular if you mean one specific lamp: но фонарь уже горит.

What case is фонари in?

It’s nominative plural, because фонари is the grammatical subject of the second clause (фонари ... горят).

Why is the verb горят and not светят?

Both are possible, but they’re not identical:

• фонари горят is a common Russian way to say lights are “burning” = “are on” (focused on the fact they’re lit)
• фонари светят means “the lamps are shining / giving light” (focused more on illumination)
  So горят often corresponds to English “are on.”

What does уже add here, and where can it go in the sentence?

уже means already: it suggests a change of state has happened earlier than expected or earlier than the current reference point.
Position is flexible, but it usually goes near what it modifies:

• фонари уже горят (most natural)
• уже горят фонари (more emphasis on “already”)
• фонари горят уже can sound like “they’re already burning (now)” with a slightly different rhythm.

Is горят imperfective or perfective, and why?

горят is imperfective (from гореть). It describes an ongoing state: “are burning/are on.”
A perfective form would be used for the moment of switching on, e.g. фонари загорелись = “the streetlights lit up / came on.”

How do I pronounce темно and where is the stress?

Stress is on the second syllable: темно́.
The first vowel е is unstressed and often sounds closer to и in fast speech, roughly “t’im-NO” (but keep it clearly Russian, not English).

Could На улице темно also mean “The street is dark” (like a specific street)?

Yes, depending on context. на улице can mean:
1) “outside / outdoors” (very common)
2) “on the street” as a location
3) “on (a) street” in the sense of a particular street, if the context makes it specific
If you want to clearly mean “outside,” you can also say на улице exactly as here—this is already the standard way. If you want to clearly mean “the street itself is dark,” you might say улица тёмная (adjective + noun) or specify: на этой улице темно (“on this street it’s dark”).