Questions & Answers about Если на дороге не будет пробки, мы доедем до вокзала вовремя.
Why is it не будет, not нет?
Because the sentence is talking about the future: If there isn’t a traffic jam on the road, we will get to the station on time.
- нет means there is no / there isn’t right now.
- не будет means there will not be.
So:
- На дороге нет пробки = There is no traffic jam on the road.
- На дороге не будет пробки = There will not be a traffic jam on the road.
Russian does not follow the English pattern of using a present form after if for future meaning. In Russian, future meaning is usually shown directly with the future tense: если ... не будет ...
Why is it пробки, not пробка?
Because after не будет in this kind of there will not be construction, Russian commonly uses the genitive case.
So:
- будет пробка = there will be a traffic jam
- не будет пробки = there will not be a traffic jam
This is a very common pattern with быть under negation:
- будет время → не будет времени
- будет проблема → не будет проблемы
- будет пробка → не будет пробки
So пробки here is genitive singular.