Breakdown of Погоду в горах нельзя предсказать заранее.
в
in / to (direction)
погода
the weather
нельзя
one must not
гора
mountain
Questions & Answers about Погоду в горах нельзя предсказать заранее.
Why is the perfective verb предсказать used after нельзя here instead of an imperfective verb?
In Russian, нельзя plus a perfective verb means that an action is physically impossible to achieve, rather than strictly forbidden. So, нельзя предсказать means 'it is impossible to predict.' If we used the imperfective verb предсказывать, it would mean 'it is forbidden to predict' or 'one must not predict,' which doesn't make sense for the weather!
Why is погоду at the very beginning of the sentence, and why is it in the accusative case?
Погоду is the direct object of the verb предсказать (to predict), which is why it takes the accusative case. It is placed at the beginning of the sentence to establish the topic: 'As for the weather, it is impossible to predict it.' Russian often puts the main topic first, even if it is the object of the verb.
How is the adverb заранее formed?
It is built from the preposition за (meaning 'before' or 'ahead of' in this context) and ранее, which is an older comparative form of рано (early). Together, they literally mean 'earlier than' or 'in advance.'
Why does в горах end in -ах?
Горах is the prepositional plural form of гора (mountain). We use the prepositional case here because в indicates location answering the question 'where?'. The standard prepositional plural ending for most nouns is -ах (or -ях).