Breakdown of Это огромная крепость, её нельзя разрушить.
это
this / it is
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
нельзя
one must not
огромный
huge
крепость
fortress
разрушить
to destroy
Questions & Answers about Это огромная крепость, её нельзя разрушить.
Why does this sentence use the perfective verb разрушить after нельзя instead of the imperfective разрушать?
In Russian, нельзя followed by a perfective infinitive means that the action is physically or practically impossible to complete. Because the fortress is huge, it cannot be destroyed. If we used the imperfective разрушать, it would mean destroying it is prohibited or against the rules!
Since крепость is a feminine noun, why does the sentence start with Это rather than Эта?
When you use 'this is' to introduce or identify a noun, you always use the fixed neuter form это, no matter the gender of the noun. You would only use the feminine эта if it were directly attached to the noun, as in Эта крепость огромная (This fortress is huge).
What case is её in, and why?
Её is in the accusative case. It acts as the direct object of the verb разрушить (to destroy it). Because крепость (fortress) is feminine, we use the feminine pronoun она, which becomes её in the accusative.
Why is её placed before нельзя разрушить instead of after?
In Russian, pronoun objects often move to the front of the verb phrase, especially in impersonal sentences like this one. Saying нельзя разрушить её is also grammatically correct, but putting её right after the comma flows very naturally and quickly connects the second clause back to the fortress.
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