Breakdown of Время летит незаметно, когда нам весело.
время
time
нам
to us
когда
when
лететь
to fly (one direction)
Questions & Answers about Время летит незаметно, когда нам весело.
Why does this sentence use летит (unidirectional) instead of летает (multidirectional) for 'flies'?
In Russian, time is viewed as moving forward continuously in a single direction. Therefore, metaphorical expressions about time passing always use unidirectional verbs of motion, like летит (is flying) or идёт (is going).
Why is it нам весело (to us it is fun) instead of using the pronoun мы (we)?
Весело is an impersonal state word. To express who is experiencing this temporary state, Russian uses the dative case (нам). If you used the nominative pronoun and an adjective, like мы весёлые, it would mean 'we are cheerful people' by nature, rather than 'we are having fun' at this specific moment.
How do you break down the word незаметно?
Could we just say время летит быстро here?
You can, and it makes perfect grammatical sense. However, незаметно is the natural choice used in Russian to capture the idea that you are so distracted by having fun that you completely fail to notice the passage of time.