Questions & Answers about Тишина нас очень пугает.
How would I change this sentence to say "Nothing scares us"?
You would replace тишина (silence) with the negative pronoun ничто (nothing). But remember the double negative rule in Russian! You also need to add не before the verb, making it: Ничто нас не пугает.
What case is нас in this sentence?
It is in the Accusative case because "us" is the direct object receiving the action (we are the ones being scared). Нас is the Accusative form of мы (we).
Why is нас (us) placed before the verb instead of at the end?
Russian word order is flexible, but object pronouns like нас very often drift to the middle of the sentence, right before the verb. Saying Тишина очень пугает нас is also grammatically correct, but the original order sounds very natural and keeps the focus on the scary action.
Can очень mean "a lot" instead of just "very"?
Yes! When очень is used with an adjective, it means "very" (like "very cold"). But when it is used to describe a verb, like пугает (scares) in this sentence, it translates to "a lot" or "very much" because it describes the intensity of the action.