Эта квартира слишком маленькая, нам негде жить.
This apartment is too small, we have nowhere to live.
Breakdown of Эта квартира слишком маленькая, нам негде жить.
мы
we
маленький
small
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
квартира
apartment
жить
to live
слишком
too, excessively
негде
nowhere (location)
Questions & Answers about Эта квартира слишком маленькая, нам негде жить.
Why does this sentence use негде instead of нигде for nowhere?
Нигде is used in normal negative sentences, usually with an extra не (like мы нигде не живём - we do not live anywhere). Негде is a special word that means there is no place to do something. It acts as the main concept of the clause and does not take a second не.
Why is we translated as нам (Dative) rather than мы (Nominative)?
In Russian, sentences with words like негде, некуда, and некогда are impersonal. The person experiencing the lack of a place or time is put in the Dative case (нам), and the action is expressed with an infinitive (жить). Literally, it translates to 'to us there is no place to live'.
Could I use некуда instead of негде in this sentence?
No, because жить (to live) describes a state in a static location, which requires the 'where' concept (где / негде). Некуда means nowhere to go and implies motion or direction, so it would only be used with motion verbs like идти (to go) or переехать (to move).
Why isn't there a verb like is in the first half of the sentence (Эта квартира слишком маленькая)?
In the present tense, Russian almost always omits the verb to be. You simply put the subject (квартира) right next to its adjective (маленькая). The adjective ends in -ая because it is feminine to match квартира.
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