Ограничение зависит от категории транспортного средства.

Because the verb зависеть means to depend on and it normally requires the preposition от.

So the pattern is:

зависеть от + genitive case

Examples:

• зависеть от погоды — to depend on the weather
• зависеть от времени — to depend on time
• зависеть от категории — to depend on the category

For an English speaker, it helps to learn this as a fixed chunk: зависеть от.

Категории is in the genitive case.

That is because от requires the genitive:

• от категории

The dictionary form is категория.
Its genitive singular form is категории.

So:

• категория — nominative singular
• категории — genitive singular

In this sentence, it is genitive because it follows от after зависит.

Because it depends on категории.

The phrase is:

категория транспортного средства
= category of a vehicle / vehicle category

In Russian, when one noun modifies another in an of relationship, the second noun often goes into the genitive.

So:

• категория — category
• транспортное средство — vehicle
• категория транспортного средства — category of a vehicle

Inside that phrase:

• средства is genitive singular of средство
• транспортного is genitive singular too, agreeing with средства

So the sentence contains genitive in two layers:

1. от категории — because of the preposition от
2. транспортного средства — because it means category of a vehicle

Russian often uses the singular when speaking about something in a general or classifying way.

Here, категория транспортного средства means something like:

• the category of a vehicle
• vehicle category

It is a general classification term, not necessarily about one specific vehicle.

English does something similar sometimes:

• price depends on the type of vehicle not necessarily one single vehicle in real life, but the category as a concept.

So singular here is natural and standard.

Because the subject is ограничение, which is singular.

Breakdown:

• ограничение — restriction / limit, neuter singular
• зависит — depends, 3rd person singular

They match:

• ограничение зависит — the restriction depends

If the subject were plural, the verb would be plural too:

• ограничения зависят — the restrictions depend

It is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence.

The basic structure is:

Ограничение | зависит | от категории транспортного средства
subject | verb | prepositional/genitive phrase

So:

• ограничение = nominative singular
• зависит = agrees with that subject

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral version here is:

Ограничение зависит от категории транспортного средства.

But you could also say:

От категории транспортного средства зависит ограничение.

That version puts more emphasis on от категории транспортного средства.

In English, changing word order often sounds wrong or very marked. In Russian, it is much more normal, though the most neutral textbook order is usually: subject + verb + the rest.

Russian has no articles.

So ограничение can mean:

• a restriction
• the restriction

And категории транспортного средства can mean:

• of a vehicle category
• of the vehicle category
• more naturally, on the vehicle category / on the category of the vehicle

The exact meaning is understood from context.

This is one of the biggest differences from English: Russian usually leaves definiteness unstated unless something in the context makes it clear.

A helpful stressed version is:

Ограниче́ние зави́сит от катего́рии тра́нспортного сре́дства.

Stress:

• ограниче́ние
• зави́сит
• катего́рии
• тра́нспортного
• сре́дства

A rough English-style approximation:

• ah-grah-nee-CHE-nee-ye
• zah-VEE-sit
• ot
• kah-tee-GO-ree-ee
• TRAN-sport-nah-vah
• SRYED-stvah

The exact sounds are different from English, but the stress pattern is important to learn early.

Yes, but it is fairly formal and very common in official, legal, technical, and administrative language.

You will often see it in:

• traffic rules
• driving documents
• insurance texts
• laws and regulations

In everyday speech, people might more often use a more specific word, depending on the situation:

• машина — car
• автомобиль — automobile/car
• автобус — bus
• грузовик — truck

But if the text is about regulations and categories in general, транспортное средство is exactly the right expression.

It can be either, depending on context.

Ограничение is a broad word meaning something like:

• restriction
• limitation
• limit

In official contexts, the best English choice depends on what kind of rule is being discussed.

For example:

• скоростное ограничение — speed limit
• in another context, restriction may sound better

So grammatically, the Russian sentence stays the same, but the most natural English translation may vary with context.