Вечером одна фара не работала, поэтому папа не поехал далеко.

In the evening one headlight wasn’t working, so Dad didn’t drive far.

Breakdown of Вечером одна фара не работала, поэтому папа не поехал далеко.

• не: not
• вечером: in the evening
• работать: to work
• папа: the dad

Questions & Answers about Вечером одна фара не работала, поэтому папа не поехал далеко.

Why is вечером used instead of вечер or в вечер?

Вечером is the standard adverbial form meaning in the evening or during the evening.

It comes from the noun вечер (evening) in the instrumental case, but in expressions of time, this form often functions almost like an adverb:

• утром = in the morning
• днём = in the daytime
• вечером = in the evening
• ночью = at night

So Вечером одна фара не работала means In the evening, one headlight wasn’t working.

Using в вечер would normally sound wrong here. Russian usually does not use в + accusative for this kind of general time expression.

Why is it одна фара, not один фара?

Because фара is a feminine noun.

Russian one changes form to match the gender of the noun:

• один for masculine
• одна for feminine
• одно for neuter

Examples:

• один стол = one table
• одна фара = one headlight
• одно окно = one window

Since фара ends in -а and is feminine, the correct form is одна.