Люди бегают в парке.

to run

Breakdown of Люди бегают в парке.

• парк: the park
• в: in
• люди: the people

Questions & Answers about Люди бегают в парке.

Why does the sentence use бегают instead of бегут?

Russian actually has two imperfective verbs for “to run”:

• бегать – multi-directional or habitual running (to run regularly, back-and-fro).
• бежать – unidirectional running (to run in one specific direction).
  бегают is the 3rd person plural present of бегать, so it describes people running habitually or back-and-forth in the park. бегут would be the 3rd person plural of бежать, used when you want to emphasize a single, one-way run.

What case is в парке, and why is it used here?

В парке is the prepositional case (singular of парк). After the preposition в, the prepositional indicates a static location (“in the park”).
Formation: парк → парке (masculine nouns add -е in the prepositional singular).
If you wanted movement “into the park,” you would use the accusative: в парк.

Can Люди бегают в парке mean both a habitual action and an action happening right now?

Yes. Russian has no separate continuous tense, so the imperfective present (бегают) covers both:

• Habitual: “People run in the park (as a regular activity).”
  You can add frequency words: Люди обычно бегают в парке (People usually run in the park).
• Ongoing: “People are running in the park (right now).”
  You can add сейчас: Люди сейчас бегают в парке.

How would you turn Люди бегают в парке into a yes/no question?

Two common ways: 1) Raise intonation only:
Люди бегают в парке?
2) Use the question particle ли in a more formal style:
Бегают ли люди в парке?

Why are there no articles (a/the) before люди?

Russian doesn’t have articles like a or the. Nouns stand alone without them. If you need “these people,” you’d use a demonstrative:
Эти люди бегают в парке (These people run in the park).

Can you change the word order in this sentence?

Yes. Russian word order is very flexible; you rearrange for emphasis:

• Люди бегают в парке. (Neutral: subject-verb-location.)
• В парке бегают люди. (Emphasizes where – “It’s in the park that people run.”)
• Бегают люди в парке. (Emphasizes the action: “Running—people do it in the park.”)
  All maintain the same core meaning.

Where is the stress in Люди бегают в парке?

• ЛЮ́ди (stress on the first syllable)
• беГА́ют (stress on the а)
• ПА́Рке (stress remains on the root)

Why is люди used for “people” instead of человеки or народ?

• люди is the standard plural for “people” (individual persons).
• человеки is archaic or poetic; rarely used in everyday speech.
• народ means “the people” as a collective, nation or ethnic group.
  In Люди бегают в парке, you’re simply talking about some people jogging, so люди is the correct choice.