Past and future impersonals (было, будет)

Past Impersonals: How It Was

In Russian, impersonal expressions describe physical or emotional states (like being cold or interested) and general conditions (like the weather). For the past tense, use the neuter verb было with an adverb. To specify who experienced the feeling, add a pronoun in the Dative case.

• нам холодно (we are cold) → нам было холодно (we were cold)
• интересно (it is interesting) → было интересно (it was interesting)

When talking about the weather, note whether you are using a noun or an adverb. Nouns act as subjects and dictate the verb's gender (e.g., masculine nouns like ветер and снег take был). Adverbs describing states, like ветрено (windy) and холодно (cold), always take the neuter было.

Future Impersonals: The Weather Forecast

For future states, simply swap the past-tense было for the future-tense verb будет. The structure remains the same: Dative pronoun + будет + adverb.

• вам холодно (you are cold) → вам будет холодно (you will be cold)
• мне интересно (I am interested) → мне будет интересно (I will be interested)

This pattern is perfect for discussing a прогноз (forecast) or predicting the климат (climate). For temperatures, use будет with плюс or минус and the number of degrees.