На вулиці темно.

It’s dark outside.

Breakdown of На вулиці темно.

• на: on
• вулиця: the street
• темно: dark

Questions & Answers about На вулиці темно.

What does На вулиці темно literally mean, and how would you translate it into natural English?

Literally, На вулиці means “on the street” and темно means “dark”. As a whole, the sentence is an impersonal statement best rendered in English as:
• “It’s dark outside.”

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Which case is вулиці in, and why?

вулиці is in the locative singular of the feminine noun вулиця (street).
• The locative case in Ukrainian shows location (“where?”).
• After the preposition на (on), we use the locative to say “on/at” a place: на + locative → на вулиці (at/on the street).

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What part of speech is темно, and why isn’t it темний or темна?

темно is the short-form neuter singular of the adjective темний. In impersonal sentences expressing general states (weather, time of day, feelings), Ukrainian uses:
• No grammatical subject
• A predicate in neuter form
Thus темно functions like an adverbial predicate: “(It is) dark.”

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Why is there no pronoun for “it” as in English “It’s dark”?

Ukrainian often omits the dummy subject “it” in weather or state expressions. Instead:
• You get an impersonal construction with a neuter predicate (темно, холодно, жарко, вітряно).
• There’s no need for an extra pronoun; the context is clear.

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Can you change the word order to Темно на вулиці, and does the emphasis change?

Yes. Ukrainian word order is relatively flexible.
• На вулиці темно and Темно на вулиці are both correct.
• Putting темно first places slight emphasis on how dark it is; starting with на вулиці emphasizes where it’s dark.

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What’s the difference between на вулиці темно and надворі темно?

Both mean “it’s dark outside,” but:
• на вулиці = “on the street” (more neutral, literally “on the street”).
• надворі = “in the yard/outside” (an adverbial form meaning “outside”; a bit more colloquial).

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How would you express the opposite, “It’s light outside”?

By replacing темно with the adjective світло (light, bright):
• На вулиці світло.
This literally means “On the street it’s light,” i.e. “It’s light outside.”

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If I want to say “The street is dark” (describing the street itself), how would I do that?

Use the full adjective with the noun in the nominative case:
• Вулиця темна.
Here вулиця is the subject and темна (feminine nominative) describes the street itself (e.g., poorly lit).

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Are there other common impersonal weather or time expressions formed the same way?

Yes. You can replace темно with other neuter adjectives or use verbs like йде (it’s going/it’s falling). Examples:
• На вулиці холодно. (It’s cold outside.)
• На вулиці жарко. (It’s hot outside.)
• На вулиці вітряно. (It’s windy outside.)
• На вулиці йде дощ. (It’s raining outside.)
• У приміщенні спокійно. (It’s quiet inside.)