Learn Hardcore Russian: В трамвае много пассажиров, но все спокойно сидят и читают. - There are many passengers on the tram, but everyone sits quietly and reads.

In this sentence we are describing where the passengers are physically located, so Russian uses the prepositional case with в: в трамвае = in the tram (inside it, at that place).

Why is there no word for are (the verb “to be”) in В трамвае много пассажиров?

In the present tense, Russian normally omits the verb быть (to be).

So:

В трамвае много пассажиров.
Literally: In the tram many passengers.
Understood as: There are many passengers in the tram.

If you said есть (В трамвае есть много пассажиров), it would sound either unusual or slightly emphatic, and it’s usually unnecessary in simple statements of existence like this.

Why is пассажиров in the genitive plural after много?

After quantity words like много (many, much), Russian generally uses the genitive case:

For countable nouns: genitive plural
- много пассажиров – many passengers
- много книг – many books
- много людей – many people
For uncountable / mass nouns: genitive singular
- много воды – much water
- много времени – much time

So много пассажиров follows the regular pattern: много + genitive plural of пассажир → пассажиров.

Why is there a comma before но, and why isn’t there a comma before и?

Но (but) connects two independent clauses:
- В трамвае много пассажиров, но все спокойно сидят и читают.
  Each part has its own subject and predicate, so Russian requires a comma before но.
И (and) here connects two verbs with the same subject:
- все спокойно сидят и читают
  Subject: все
  Verbs: сидят and читают
  Since these verbs share the same subject and form one predicate, there is no comma before и.

What exactly does все mean here, and why do the verbs сидят and читают use the plural?

In this sentence, все means “all (of them)” / “everyone” and refers back to пассажиров (the passengers).

Grammatically:

все is in nominative plural → it is the subject of the second clause.
Therefore, the verbs must also be 3rd person plural:
- сидят – they sit / are sitting
- читают – they read / are reading

So: все сидят и читают = they all are sitting and reading.

What is the difference between все and всё?

They look similar but are different words:

все (no letter ё, but pronounced [fsye])
- Plural: “all, everyone, all of them”
- Refers to people or things in the plural
- Example: Все пришли. – Everyone came.
всё (with ё)
- Neuter singular: “everything, all (of it)”
- Refers to a totality as one whole, or to a neuter noun
- Example: Всё хорошо. – Everything is fine.

In our sentence we are talking about many passengers (a plural group of people), so we must use все, not всё.

Could we use они instead of все, as in …но они спокойно сидят и читают?

Yes, grammatically that is possible:

…но они спокойно сидят и читают. – …but they are quietly sitting and reading.

However, они is neutral, while все adds the idea “all of them, every one of them”.
The original sentence emphasizes that despite there being many passengers, every single one is sitting and reading calmly. Using они would lose that nuance of “all”.

Why is it спокойно сидят and not спокойные сидят?

спокойно is an adverb – “calmly, quietly”. It describes how they sit and read.
спокойные is an adjective (plural) – “calm (people)”. It would describe what kind of people they are.

In this sentence, we are focusing on the manner of the action (how they sit and read), so Russian uses the adverb:

все спокойно сидят и читают – they all sit and read calmly / quietly.

If you said все спокойные, сидят и читают, that would sound like:

They are all calm; they sit and read – a different structure and emphasis.

Can спокойно go in another position, like все сидят спокойно и читают?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and several variants are possible, all grammatical but with slightly different emphasis:

все спокойно сидят и читают – neutral; “calmly” applies to the whole action.
все сидят спокойно и читают – a bit more emphasis on the way they sit.
все сидят и спокойно читают – more emphasis on the calm way they read.

The original word order is very natural and “neutral-sounding,” but changing the position of спокойно is possible to shift focus.

Why are сидят and читают in the imperfective aspect? Could we say прочитают?

In Russian, the imperfective aspect is used for actions:

in progress
repeated / habitual
described as a general process, not as a completed result.

Here, we’re describing what the passengers are doing right now as an ongoing situation:

сидят и читают – they are sitting and reading (in progress).

If you said прочитают, that is perfective and means “they will finish reading” (future, completed result).
That would not fit the idea of describing the current peaceful scene. So читают (imperfective present) is the correct choice.

Does В трамвае много пассажиров count as having a subject and verb? How would you analyze its grammar?

Formally, there is no explicit verb in the present tense, but Russian speakers understand an implied (есть) “there is/are”.

Analysis:

В трамвае – prepositional phrase of place (“in the tram”)
много пассажиров – a quantitative phrase functioning as the logical subject:
- много – quantifier
- пассажиров – genitive plural “of passengers”

Whole clause: В трамвае (есть) много пассажиров.
Literally: In the tram (there are) many passengers.

So grammatically, Russian treats много пассажиров like the “thing that exists/there is,” even though the verb is omitted.

How would this sentence differ from English in terms of the present continuous (“are sitting and reading”)?

English distinguishes:

simple present: they sit and read
present continuous: they are sitting and reading

Russian does not have a separate continuous tense. The present imperfective covers both:

все сидят и читают
can mean:
- they sit and read (general, regular action), or
- they are sitting and reading (right now)

The context “in the tram, there are many passengers, but they all sit calmly and read” clearly refers to the current situation, so in natural English we translate it as “are sitting and reading.”