Learn Hardcore Russian: Моя соседка тоже берёт свой велосипед и едет в парк. - My female neighbor also takes her bicycle and goes to the park.

соседка is a feminine noun (it ends in -а and means female neighbor).
Therefore you must use the feminine form моя (my) rather than the masculine мой.

So:

моя соседка = my (female) neighbor
мой сосед = my (male) neighbor

What exactly does соседка mean, and how is it different from сосед?

сосед = neighbor (male)
соседка = neighbor (female)

The suffix -ка is a common way to form a feminine noun from a masculine one.

Context decides what kind of neighbor you mean:

someone who lives next door or in the same building
a neighbor on a train, at a desk, in a dorm room, etc.

So моя соседка is specifically my female neighbor.

What does тоже mean here, and where can it go in the sentence?

тоже means also / too / as well and shows that the neighbor is doing the same thing as someone mentioned earlier.

Default, neutral position here is after the subject:

Моя соседка тоже берёт свой велосипед…

You can move it, but the nuance changes slightly:

Тоже моя соседка берёт свой велосипед… – unusual; might sound like a contrast with other people.
Моя соседка берёт тоже свой велосипед… – can put a bit of emphasis on her bike too (for example, maybe others are taking other things).

For learners, putting тоже right after the subject is the safest, most natural choice.

Why is the verb берёт in the present tense? Does it mean “is taking” or “usually takes”?

Russian present tense can cover both:

Right now / on this occasion:
Моя соседка тоже берёт свой велосипед и едет в парк.
– My neighbor is (now) also taking her bike and going to the park.
Habitual / repeated action:
– My neighbor also (usually) takes her bike and goes to the park.

Context (earlier or later sentences) will show whether it’s a one-time action or a regular habit. Russian doesn’t have a special continuous form like “is taking”; simple present does both jobs.

What is the difference between берёт and возьмёт, and why is берёт used here?

These are different aspects of the same basic verb брать / взять (to take).

брать – берёт (imperfective)
- Focus on the process, repetition, or habit.
- Used in the present tense for real present actions: берёт = is taking / takes.
взять – возьмёт (perfective)
- Focus on the completed result (the fact of having taken something).
- In the future, возьмёт = will take (once, as a completed act).
- There is no present tense for perfective verbs in the same sense as English present.

Here, берёт is used because:

Either the action is happening right now,
Or it is described as a typical/repeated action.

If you said:

Моя соседка возьмёт свой велосипед и поедет в парк.
– That would be specifically in the future: My neighbor will take her bike and go to the park.

Why is свой велосипед used instead of её велосипед?

свой is a reflexive possessive pronoun. It usually means one’s own and refers back to the subject of the sentence.

Subject: моя соседка
Possessive that refers back to that same subject: свой велосипед = her own bike.

Using свой instead of её has two advantages:

Clarity –
- Она берёт свой велосипед. – She takes her own bike.
- Она берёт её велосипед. – She takes her bike, but “her” = some other woman’s, not the subject’s.
Naturalness – Native speakers strongly prefer свой when the possessor is the subject.

So Моя соседка тоже берёт свой велосипед… is the normal, natural choice.

Why does велосипед look the same as in the dictionary form? Shouldn’t the ending change?

In Russian, the dictionary form is nominative singular.
Here, велосипед is in the accusative singular, because it is the direct object of берёт (she takes what?).

For inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative singular form is identical to the nominative singular. So:

Nominative: велосипед – a bicycle / the bicycle
Accusative: велосипед – (she takes) the bicycle

No visible change, even though the case is different.

Why is it едет and not идёт in this sentence?

Both verbs mean to go, but they differ in how you move:

идти / идти – идёт – to go on foot, to walk.
ехать – едет – to go by transport / on a vehicle (car, bus, bike, train, etc.).

Since she is going on a bicycle, Russian uses ехать:

Она идёт в парк. – She is going to the park on foot.
Она едет в парк. – She is going to the park by some transport (here: by bike).

What is the difference between едет and ездит, and why is едет used here?

Both come from the verb ехать / ездить (“to go by transport”), but:

ехать – едет: unidirectional – going in one specific direction, in one trip.
- Она едет в парк. – She is going to the park (now, this trip).
ездить – ездит: multidirectional / habitual – going there and back, or regularly.
- Она часто ездит в парк. – She often goes (by transport) to the park.

In …берёт свой велосипед и едет в парк, the focus is on this specific movement towards the park, so едет is the natural choice. To talk about a general habit, you might say:

Моя соседка часто берёт свой велосипед и ездит в парк. – My neighbor often takes her bike and (regularly) goes to the park.

Why is it в парк and not в парке?

в can take different cases, with different meanings:

в + accusative = motion towards / into a place
- в парк – to the park
в + prepositional = location in / inside a place
- в парке – in the park

Here the verb едет expresses movement to the park, so we need accusative: в парк.
If you describe where she is, you’d say:

Она в парке. – She is in the park.

Can the word order be changed, for example: Моя соседка берёт тоже свой велосипед и едет в парк?

Russian word order is flexible, but not always equally natural.

Моя соседка тоже берёт свой велосипед и едет в парк.
– Most neutral: My neighbor also takes her bike and goes to the park.
Моя соседка берёт тоже свой велосипед…
– Possible, but it can slightly emphasize тоже свой велосипед (she also takes her own bike, maybe in contrast to someone taking someone else’s bike or taking something different).

For everyday speech, especially as a learner, keep тоже close after the subject:

[Subject] + тоже + [verb]…

How do we know if парк here means “the park” or “a park”? There is no article.

Russian has no articles (no direct equivalent of a/an/the).
The noun парк by itself can mean:

a park in general,
the park that both speakers know about from context.

Whether you translate it as a park or the park depends entirely on the context in English, not on any special word in Russian. The Russian sentence itself doesn’t mark this difference.

Could we drop моя and just say Соседка тоже берёт свой велосипед и едет в парк?

Yes, you can say:

Соседка тоже берёт свой велосипед и едет в парк.

This would usually be understood as my (or our) neighbor, if it’s already clear from context whose neighbor you’re talking about. Russian often omits possessive pronouns when the relationship is obvious.

However:

Моя соседка… explicitly marks that it is my neighbor.
Without моя, it’s slightly less specific and relies more on context.

For a standalone sentence in a textbook or exercise, including моя is clearer.