Собака гуляет вдоль реки.

The dog is walking along the river.

Breakdown of Собака гуляет вдоль реки.

• собака: the dog
• гулять: to walk
• река: the river
• вдоль: along

Questions & Answers about Собака гуляет вдоль реки.

Why is there no article before собака?

Russian does not use definite or indefinite articles (like “the” or “a/an” in English). A noun such as собака can mean either “a dog” or “the dog” depending on context. If you need to specify “this” or “that,” you’d use a demonstrative (e.g., эта собака = “this dog”).

What case is собака in and why?

Собака is in the nominative singular case because it is the grammatical subject of the sentence—the one performing the action (гуляет, “is walking”). In Russian, the subject is normally in the nominative.

What case is реки in and why?

Реки is in the genitive singular case. The preposition вдоль (“along”) always requires the genitive. That’s why река changes to реки here.

What does the preposition вдоль mean and how is it used?

Вдоль means “along” (indicating movement parallel to something). It can answer “куда?” (“where to?”) or “где?” (“where?”) depending on context, but it always takes the genitive case.

Why is the verb гуляет used here, and how is it conjugated?

Гуляет is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the imperfective verb гулять, which means “to stroll” or “to take a walk” (often for leisure). The full present-tense conjugation is:
• я гуляю
• ты гуляешь
• он/она гуляет
• мы гуляем
• вы гуляете
• они гуляют

What is the aspect of гулять, and is there a perfective version?

Гулять is imperfective; it expresses an ongoing, habitual, or repeated action. Its perfective counterpart is прогуляться, which indicates a completed walk. For example, Он прогулялся вдоль реки means “He took a walk along the river” (and finished it).

How is гулять different from verbs like идти or ходить?

• Гулять implies walking for pleasure or leisure (strolling).
• Идти (imperfective, unidirectional) or пойти (perfective) focus on going to a specific destination in one direction.
• Ходить (imperfective, multidirectional) indicates habitual, repeated, or back-and-forth motion without focus on leisure.

Can I change the word order—for example, Вдоль реки гуляет собака?

Yes. Russian has flexible word order. Putting вдоль реки at the beginning shifts emphasis onto the location: “Along the river, a dog is walking.” The meaning stays the same, and subject–verb agreement is unaffected.