Breakdown of Мне не верится, что поезд приедет ровно в полночь.
не
not
поезд
train
мне
to me
что
that (conjunction)
ровно
exactly
в
on / during (a time period)
приехать
to arrive (by transport, pf)
полночь
midnight
вериться
to believe (impersonal)
Questions & Answers about Мне не верится, что поезд приедет ровно в полночь.
Why do we say мне не верится instead of я не верю?
This is an impersonal involuntary state. Instead of you actively doing the action (я не верю = I don't believe), the feeling is happening to you. To build this, we put the person in the Dative case (мне) and add the reflexive ending to the 3rd-person singular verb (верится). It translates better to 'I can't seem to believe it' or 'It's hard for me to believe.'
Could I use a perfective verb in this мне не... state?
No, these involuntary states almost always use imperfective verbs. That is because they describe an ongoing feeling, mood, or physical state (like an ongoing inability to sleep or believe something) rather than a single completed action with a result.
Why use приедет for the train arriving?
Приедет is the future perfective form of приехать, a verb of motion used for vehicles. The prefix при- adds the meaning of 'arrival.' Since a train is a vehicle, we use the transport verb root (-еха-) rather than the root for walking on foot (-ходи-).
Why does полночь look like it is in the Nominative case after the preposition в?
It is actually in the Accusative case! We use в plus the Accusative case to express 'at' a certain time (like в субботу). Because полночь (midnight) is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign, it belongs to the 3rd declension, meaning its Accusative form is identical to its Nominative form.
Doesn't ровно mean 'smoothly' or 'flatly'?
Physically, yes, it means 'smoothly' or 'evenly.' But when used with expressions of time or numbers, ровно means 'exactly' or 'sharp.' So ровно в полночь translates to 'at midnight sharp.'
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