Question 1

Why does the sentence use нам instead of мы for "we"?

Accepted Answer

This is an impersonal expression of state. In Russian, when you talk about how someone feels physically or emotionally (like being cold, hot, sad, or bored), the person experiencing the feeling is put in the Dative case. Instead of saying "We are cold," Russian literally says "To us it is cold" (нам холодно).

Question 2

Where is the verb "are" in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Russian drops the verb "to be" in the present tense, even in impersonal sentences like this. If you were talking about the past or future, you would need to add a neutral verb form. For example, "we were cold" would be нам было холодно, and "we will be hot" is нам будет жарко.

Question 3

Why do the words for winter and summer change to зимой and летом?

Accepted Answer

To say in a particular season or time of day, Russian changes the noun to the Instrumental case. So зима (winter) becomes зимой (in winter), and лето (summer) becomes летом (in summer). Because the case ending does the work, you don't need a preposition like "in" at all.

Question 4

Why is the word а used here instead of и to mean "and"?

Accepted Answer

Russian uses а to show a contrast between two things. Because you are contrasting winter with summer, and cold with hot, а is the natural choice. It acts a bit like "whereas" or "but," even though in English we often just translate it as "and."

Question 5

Could I repeat the pronoun in the second half and say а летом нам жарко?

Accepted Answer

You could, but it is not necessary. Just like in English, if the person experiencing the feeling hasn't changed in the second half of the sentence, it is much more natural to drop the repeated pronoun.

Зимой нам холодно, а летом жарко.

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