Друзья часто приходят в гости.

the friend

Breakdown of Друзья часто приходят в гости.

• часто: often
• приходить в гости: to come to visit

Questions & Answers about Друзья часто приходят в гости.

Why is друзья in the nominative plural case?

Because друзья is the subject of the sentence – the ones performing the action приходят. Subjects in Russian take the nominative case, and here we’re talking about multiple friends, hence plural.

What tense and aspect is приходят, and why is the imperfective used?

приходят is present tense, imperfective aspect of приходить. The imperfective is used for habitual or repeated actions (friends often come). A perfective form (e.g. приходят — they will come in future) would imply a single, completed event, not a recurring one.

What does the phrase в гости mean, and why is it used instead of a simple verb like “visit”?

в гости is a fixed expression meaning “to come over/to visit.” Literally it’s в + accusative, indicating movement toward being someone’s guest. Russian often uses this structure rather than a single verb.

Which case is гости in в гости, and why?

It’s accusative plural. After в to express motion toward something, Russian takes the accusative case. So гости here is the plural accusative of гость.

Why not just say друзья приходят without ?