Breakdown of Вчера метеоролог был прав: был снег.
вчера
yesterday
быть
to be
прав
right, correct (as in "you are right")
метеоролог
meteorologist
Questions & Answers about Вчера метеоролог был прав: был снег.
Since this lesson is about impersonal expressions with было, why does this sentence use был twice?
Because neither half of this sentence is impersonal! Both parts have a specific masculine subject: метеоролог (meteorologist) and снег (snow). Since they are masculine nouns, they both take the masculine past tense verb был. You only use the neuter было when there is no subject, like in the impersonal phrase вчера было холодно (it was cold yesterday).
Why is it прав instead of a regular long adjective?
Прав is a short-form adjective. Russian often uses short adjectives to state a condition or fact about the subject in the predicate, especially with concepts like being right, wrong, glad, or busy. You would use the long form правый to mean the right side (versus left) or when placing the adjective directly next to a noun to describe it.
Could I say вчера шёл снег instead of был снег?
Yes, both are very common! Шёл снег (literally snow was walking) is used to emphasize the ongoing action of the snow falling. Был снег simply states the fact that there was snow, which sounds very natural here since we are just checking off the meteorologist's prediction.
How do you know when to use the colon in a Russian sentence like this?