Learn Russian: Ветер был такой сильный, что мы не могли идти. - The wind was so strong that we could not walk.

Ветер был такой сильный, что мы не могли идти.

The wind was so strong that we could not walk.

Breakdown of Ветер был такой сильный, что мы не могли идти.

to go (on foot) / to proceed, go (of a process)

быть

to be

Questions & Answers about Ветер был такой сильный, что мы не могли идти.

Why do we use такой here instead of так for the word "so"?

In Russian, when you say "so" before an adjective like сильный (strong), you use такой because it acts like a matching adjective. Since ветер (wind) is masculine, we use the masculine form такой. You only use так before adverbs or verbs, for example: Он так быстро бегает (He runs so fast).

Is the comma before что required in this type of sentence?

Yes, absolutely. In Russian punctuation, a subordinate clause (like this result clause starting with что) must always be separated from the main sentence by a comma. You will see this comma in every такой ... что or так ... что structure.

Why use the unidirectional verb of motion идти instead of ходить for "walk"?

Even though "could not walk" sounds like a general ability in English, идти is used here because the context implies the speakers were trying to go somewhere specific on a single trip when the wind stopped them. If the sentence meant "we lost the physical ability to walk altogether," you would use the multidirectional ходить.

Why doesn't сильный change to the short form силен here?

While short adjectives are often used in the past tense to describe states, the presence of такой strongly prefers the long-form adjective. Такой directly modifies the full adjective сильный to emphasize the degree of the wind's strength.