Редко можно встретить пустую площадь в центре города.

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Breakdown of Редко можно встретить пустую площадь в центре города.

• город: the city
• площадь: the square
• центр: the center
• мочь: to be able
• редко: rarely
• пустой: empty

Questions & Answers about Редко можно встретить пустую площадь в центре города.

Why is можно used in this sentence and what does it express?

Можно here is an impersonal modal word meaning “it is possible” or “one can.” In combination with an infinitive (встретить) it expresses general possibility or likelihood (“you can encounter,” “it’s possible to encounter,” “one may find”).

Why is встретить in the infinitive form?

Because after the impersonal modal можно we always use an infinitive verb. That pattern is:

• Можно + [infinitive]
  So we say можно встретить, not можно встречу or можно встречается.

Why is площадь in the accusative case as пустую площадь?

Площадь is the direct object of the verb встретить, so it takes the accusative case. Since площадь is feminine singular, its accusative form matches the nominative (no change in noun shape), but the adjective пустая changes to пустую to agree in gender, number, and case.

What role does the adjective пустую play here, and why is it declined that way?

Пустую describes площадь (“an empty square”). It’s in the feminine accusative singular form to agree with:

1. Gender: feminine
2. Number: singular
3. Case: accusative (because it modifies the direct object of встретить)

Why is в центре города in the prepositional case?

The preposition в (“in”) when indicating location (where something is) requires the prepositional case.

• в центре (in the center) is prepositional singular of центр.
• города is the genitive singular of город, because в центре answers “of what?” (“in the center of the city”).

Could I say Редко встречается пустая площадь в центре города? How does that differ?

Yes, you can.

• Редко встречается is an impersonal construction using the imperfective verb встречаться (to occur/meet).
• It shifts focus: instead of emphasizing “it’s possible to meet,” it simply states “an empty square is rarely encountered.”
  The nuance is very slight; both sentences mean the same general idea, but using встречается feels a bit more formal or literary.

Why is the adverb Редко placed at the beginning of the sentence?

Placing Редко at the front gives it emphasis (“Rarely…”). You could also say Можно редко встретить…, but fronting the adverb is more natural in Russian to highlight the low frequency.

What’s the difference between встретить, услышать, найти, and увидеть in contexts like this?

• встретить (perfective) = “to encounter” or “to come across”
• встречаться (imperfective) = “to be encountered”
• увидеть (perfective) = “to see”
• найти (perfective) = “to find/discover”
  Choosing one changes nuance:
• встретить focuses on the chance of meeting/encountering.
• увидеть focuses on the visual act.
• найти implies actively searching and then discovering.

In our sentence, встретить suggests stumbling upon an empty square by chance.