Breakdown of Я покупаю шампунь и туалетное мыло в магазине недалеко от дома.
я
I
дом
the house
в
in
магазин
the store
и
and
от
from
недалеко
not far
покупать
to buy
шампунь
the shampoo
туалетное мыло
the toilet soap
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Questions & Answers about Я покупаю шампунь и туалетное мыло в магазине недалеко от дома.
Why is the verb покупаю in the imperfective present tense instead of a perfective form like куплю?
The imperfective aspect (покупаю) emphasizes either a habitual action (“I buy…”) or an ongoing process (“I am buying…”). If you want to say “I will buy shampoo…” as a one-off future action, you’d use the perfective куплю: Я куплю шампунь….
Why don’t шампунь and туалетное мыло change their endings in the sentence?
They are the direct objects of покупаю, so they take the accusative case. Because both nouns are inanimate, their accusative forms coincide with the nominative:
- шампунь (masculine inanimate) stays шампунь
- мыло (neuter inanimate) stays мыло
If they were animate (e.g. мужчину), the accusative would match the genitive.
Why is в магазине in the prepositional case, not the accusative?
With в, Russian distinguishes location vs. motion:
- Location “in the store” → prepositional case: в магазине
- Motion “to the store” → accusative case: в магазин
Here you’re stating where you buy, so you use the prepositional.
What case is дома in недалеко от дома, and why?
дома is genitive singular, governed by the preposition от. The phrase недалеко от means “not far from,” and от always requires the genitive.
Could you say рядом с домом instead of недалеко от дома? How would the case change?
Yes. рядом (“next to”) uses с + instrumental: рядом с домом.
- дом → домом (instrumental)
Nuance: рядом с домом implies you’re immediately beside; недалеко от дома just means at a short distance.
Why do we have туалетное мыло—what does туалетное mean here?
туалетное is an adjective meaning “toilet” in the sense of personal grooming, not the porcelain fixture. туалетное мыло is “toilet soap,” i.e. soap for washing your body or face. The adjective agrees in gender, number, and case with мыло (neuter).
Can you omit the pronoun я and just say Покупаю шампунь и туалетное мыло…?
Yes. Russian verb endings carry person and number, so the subject pronoun is often dropped unless you want to stress я. Покупаю шампунь… still clearly means “I am buying shampoo….”
Is the word order fixed here? Could I say В магазине недалеко от дома я покупаю…?
Russian word order is quite flexible. You can start with В магазине недалеко от дома to emphasize the location. The core meaning doesn’t change; you’re just shifting the focus or rhythm of the sentence.