Breakdown of В лесу ничего не цветёт, поэтому пчёлам не из чего собирать нектар.
не
not
в
in / to (direction)
поэтому
so (therefore)
ничего
nothing
из
out of
собирать
to pack / to collect, gather
лес
forest, wood
нечего
nothing (there is nothing to...)
пчела
bee
цвести
to bloom
нектар
the nectar
Questions & Answers about В лесу ничего не цветёт, поэтому пчёлам не из чего собирать нектар.
Why is it не из чего as three separate words instead of just using a normal negative pronoun?
When a predicative negative pronoun like нечего (there is nothing to...) is used with a preposition, the preposition breaks the pronoun apart and sits right in the middle. Because bees collect nectar from something (из), the preposition из splits the word into не из чего.
Why is there no extra не before the verb собирать, when the first half of the sentence has ничего не цветёт?
Regular negative pronouns starting with ни- (like ничего) require a negative verb, creating a standard double negative. However, predicative pronouns starting with a stressed не- (like нечего or не из чего) mean 'there is no [X] to [do something]'. They always pair directly with an infinitive verb without adding another не.
Where does the stress fall in the three-word phrase не из чего?
In all split predicative pronouns starting with не, the stress heavily remains on the не. You should pronounce this phrase as НЕ из чего.
Why is the word for 'bees' in the dative case (пчёлам) instead of the nominative (пчёлы)?
The second half of the sentence uses an impersonal infinitive construction: не из чего собирать (there is nothing to collect from). In Russian, the logical subject who is meant to perform the action in this type of 'there is nothing to do' structure must take the dative case, so пчёлы becomes пчёлам.
Why does the first clause use the genitive ничего as the subject of 'blooming' instead of the nominative ничто?
While ничто is strictly the grammatically correct nominative subject for 'nothing', modern Russian strongly prefers using the genitive ничего as the subject in everyday negative sentences. Saying ничто не цветёт would sound quite formal or poetic.
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