Learn Hardcore Russian: Мой друг идёт на конкурс.

идёт is the third-person singular present tense form of the imperfective verb идти (“to go on foot”). It can be rendered in English as “he goes” or “he is going,” depending on context.

Why is the present tense used here if the action might happen in the near future?

Russian uses the present tense of imperfective verbs to express:

An action in progress (“he is walking right now”).
A scheduled or near-future event (“he’s going to a contest later today”).
There is no separate progressive form as in English.

How would you express “my friend will go to the contest” instead?

Use the perfective verb пойти in the future:

Мой друг пойдёт на конкурс.
This specifically means “My friend will go to the contest.”

What case is конкурс in, and why?

It’s in the accusative case. With motion toward a place or event, the preposition на governs the accusative. Since конкурс is an inanimate masculine noun, its accusative form is identical to the nominative: конкурс.

How would you say “at the contest” instead of “to the contest”?

You’d switch на to govern the prepositional case:

на конкурсе (on/at the contest).
This indicates location (where) rather than direction (куда).

What’s the difference between идти and ходить, and why is идёт the right choice here?

идти is unidirectional (one-way motion) and normally used for a single trip happening now or soon.
ходить is multidirectional or habit-forming (regular trips).
Since your friend is making a one-time trip to the contest, идёт (from идти) is correct.

What role does мой play, and why does it look like that?

мой is a possessive pronoun meaning “my.” It’s in the masculine singular nominative form to agree with друг (a masculine noun in the subject position).

Why are there no English-style “the” or “a” articles in this sentence?

Russian does not use definite or indefinite articles. Context alone tells you whether something is specific or general.

How do you pronounce идёт, and where is the stress?

Pronounce it [i-DYOT], with the stress on the second syllable (the ё always carries stress).

Can you use a different preposition instead of на for “going to the contest”?

Generally, no. For attending or moving toward events/places, Russian uses идти на … with на + accusative. Other prepositions would change the meaning (e.g., в конкурс would sound like “inside the contest,” which is incorrect here).