Breakdown of Дождь беспрерывно шёл часами.
дождь
rain
идти
to go (on foot) / to proceed, go (of a process)
час
hour
беспрерывно
continuously
Questions & Answers about Дождь беспрерывно шёл часами.
Why is часами in the instrumental case here instead of using a preposition?
In Russian, using the bare instrumental plural of time nouns (like часами, годами, неделями) expresses an action that lasts for an extended, often tedious amount of time. It translates to 'for hours on end' or 'for years,' emphasizing the long duration without needing any preposition.
Could I just say в течение часов instead of часами?
You would need to say в течение нескольких часов (over the course of several hours) for it to be grammatically complete. However, часами is much more natural and expressive when you want to emphasize the emotional weight of how long and unending the rain felt.
Why do we use the verb шёл (went) for rain?
In Russian, precipitation like rain (дождь) and snow (снег) 'goes' (идёт or шёл) rather than 'falls.' Because the rain was an ongoing, continuous process in the past, we use the imperfective past tense form шёл.
How does the word беспрерывно break down?
It is built from the prefix бес- (without), the root -прерыв- (interruption or break, related to перерыв meaning 'a break'), and the adverb ending -но. Together, it literally means 'without interruption' or 'continuously.'