Breakdown of Эту старую стену нельзя разрушить, она из железа.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
старый
old
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
нельзя
one must not
из
out of
стена
wall
железо
iron
разрушить
to destroy
Questions & Answers about Эту старую стену нельзя разрушить, она из железа.
Why does this sentence use the perfective verb разрушить after нельзя?
This perfectly demonstrates the current lesson! When you use нельзя with a perfective verb like разрушить, it means the action is physically impossible to successfully complete. If we used the imperfective разрушать, it would mean destroying the wall is prohibited or forbidden. Since the wall is made of iron, it is about impossibility, not rules.
Why is the sentence starting with Эту старую стену in the accusative case, if it translates as the subject in English?
In the English translation, the wall is the subject of a passive sentence. But literally, the Russian sentence is structured as 'It is impossible to destroy this old wall.' The wall is the direct object receiving the action of the verb разрушить, so эта старая стена changes to the accusative эту старую стену.
Why use она for 'it' instead of оно?
The pronoun она refers back to the word for wall, стена. Because стена is a feminine noun, you must use the feminine pronoun to say 'it', regardless of whether the object is a living thing or an inanimate object.
What grammar rule is at work in the phrase из железа?
To say what material an object is made of, Russian uses the preposition из (out of / from) followed by the genitive case. Here, the neuter noun железо (iron) becomes железа in the genitive.
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