Breakdown of Это заброшенный город, здесь ни души.
это
this / it is
здесь
here
город
city
ни
neither / nor
душа
soul
заброшенный
abandoned
Questions & Answers about Это заброшенный город, здесь ни души.
Why is there no verb like нет used for negation in the second clause?
In Russian, you can express absolute absence just by using the particle ни followed by a noun in the Genitive case. The verb is completely omitted. This creates a strong, emphatic negation, so здесь ни души means there is absolutely not a single soul here.
Why is it души instead of the nominative душа?
The construction of strong verbless negation requires the particle ни plus the Genitive case. Since душа is a feminine noun ending in -а, its Genitive form becomes души.
Could I just say здесь нет никого instead of здесь ни души?
Yes, здесь нет никого is perfectly correct for saying there is no one here. However, ни души is a very common idiomatic phrase that adds a descriptive, slightly poetic emphasis. It perfectly fits the eerie atmosphere of an abandoned city.
Is заброшенный just a regular adjective?
It functions like one here, but it is actually a past passive participle formed from the perfective verb забросить (to abandon, to throw away). It declines exactly like a standard adjective to agree with the masculine, nominative noun город.
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