Breakdown of Странно, что он не позвонил.
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
звонить
to call
странно
strange, it is strange
Questions & Answers about Странно, что он не позвонил.
Why does the sentence start with the word Странно instead of an adjective like Странный?
This is an impersonal construction. In English, we say 'It is strange', using the dummy subject 'it'. Russian doesn't use a dummy subject for these general observations; instead, it uses the short neuter or adverb form ending in -о.
Do I always need a comma before что in sentences like this?
Yes! Unlike English, where you can often leave out the comma or even the word 'that' entirely (like 'It is strange he did not call'), Russian strictly requires both the comma and the conjunction что to introduce the second part of the sentence.
Why is the perfective verb позвонил used here instead of the imperfective звонил?
The perfective aspect is used because the speaker is talking about a specific, single expected event (a particular phone call that didn't happen). If you used the imperfective не звонил, it would sound more like a general habit, meaning he wasn't calling in general, or hasn't been calling over a period of time.
How would I use the lesson's 'so ... that' structure with this sentence?
You can simply add так (so) before the adverb. Так странно, что он не позвонил means 'It is so strange that he did not call'. This emphasizes the degree of strangeness, which naturally connects to the что clause explaining the result or fact.