The Impersonal Judgement
Russian judges a situation with a short adverb and no subject at all: Трудно понять. — It is hard to understand. The experiencer, if named, goes in the dative: Мне трудно понять.
| predicative | judgement |
|---|---|
| трудно | it is hard |
| сложно | it is complicated |
| легко | it is easy |
| невозможно | it is impossible |
| известно | it is known |
| It is hard for me to talk about this. | Мне трудно говорить об этом. |
Трудно or Сложно?
Трудно is about effort — the thing costs you strength. Сложно is about structure — the thing has too many parts. A heavy bag is трудно to carry; a bureaucratic form is сложно to fill in. In everyday speech they overlap, but the distinction is felt.
| This problem is complicated to explain quickly. | Эту задачу сложно объяснить быстро. |
The Evaluating Row
The same pattern carries evaluation: ужасно (terribly), смешно (it is funny), спокойно (it is calm), неплохо (not bad). They work alone, with a dative experiencer, or as intensifiers before an adjective — ужасно интересно is "terribly interesting", and the terror is a compliment.
Здесь спокойно. — It is calm here. Неплохо для начала! — Not bad for a start!
| It is quiet and calm here. | Здесь тихо и спокойно. |
Известно
Известно — "it is known" — is the impersonal citizen of academic prose: Как известно, ... (as is well known ...). It also makes the personal construction Мне это известно — I am aware of that.
| As is well known, it is cold here in winter. | Как известно, зимой здесь холодно. |
