Breakdown of Зимой машины часто ломаются из-за мороза.
машина
car
часто
often
зимой
in winter
из-за
because of; from behind
мороз
frost
ломаться
to break down (impf)
Questions & Answers about Зимой машины часто ломаются из-за мороза.
Why do we use из-за here instead of потому что?
Из-за is a preposition meaning "because of" or "due to," so it must be followed directly by a noun (here, мороза). You would use потому что ("because") to introduce a full phrase with a subject and a verb. Also, из-за is especially used for negative reasons, making it perfect for explaining why cars break down.
What case does из-за trigger for the word мороза?
It triggers the Genitive case. The preposition из-за always requires the noun following it to be in the Genitive. The dictionary form is мороз (frost), and since it is a masculine noun ending in a hard consonant, we add -а to get мороза.
Why does the verb ломаются have a -ся ending?
The -ся particle makes the verb intransitive (the action doesn't transfer to an object). The base verb ломать means "to break [something else]." Because the cars are breaking down on their own rather than breaking another object, we use the reflexive form ломаться, conjugated here for "they" (машины).
Why is "in winter" translated as just one word, зимой?
Зимой is the Instrumental case form of зима (winter). In Russian, to say that an event happens during a specific season or time of day (like "in winter" or "in the morning"), you simply put the noun in the Instrumental case without needing any extra prepositions.
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