Learn Hardcore Russian: Однажды я встретил актрису в трамвае.

однáжды – stylistically neutral, common in both speech and writing: “One day, I…”
один раз – more literally “one time”, often more matter‑of‑fact or counting: “I did it one time, not twice.”
как-то раз – more colloquial, story‑like: “So, once...”, “One time…”

In this sentence, однáжды sets up a little narrative: “One day I met an actress…”

Why is однажды at the start of the sentence? Can it go somewhere else?

Putting однáжды first is very natural: it sets the time frame, like English “One day, I met…”.

You can move it:

Я однáжды встрéтил актри́су в трамвáе. – I once met an actress on a tram.
Я встрéтил однáжды актри́су в трамвáе. – possible, but sounds marked; the adverb feels oddly inserted.

The most natural positions are at the very beginning or right after “я”. At the end (встретил актрису в трамвае однажды) is also possible but sounds a bit “afterthought‑ish”.

Why do we say я встретил and not я встречал?

This is an aspect choice:

встрéтил – perfective, focuses on the single completed event: I (once) met an actress (and that’s the whole episode).
встречáл – imperfective, would suggest repeated / habitual action or a process: I used to meet an actress (often / regularly) on the tram.

Since the sentence tells about one specific event, the perfective встрéтил is the natural choice.

The verb is встретил. What does this ending tell me?

встрéтил is:

past tense
perfective
masculine singular

In Russian past tense, the ending shows gender and number:

я встрéтил – I met (speaker is male)
я встрéтилa – I met (speaker is female)
мы встрéтили – we met (plural, no gender difference)

So from встрéтил, you know the subject is one male person (“I” or “he”) in the past.

Why is it актрису and not актриса?

Актри́са is the base (dictionary) form, nominative case.
In this sentence, актри́су is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of the verb встрéтил (“met whom?”).

Feminine nouns ending in ‑а / ‑я typically change like this:

nominative: актри́са
accusative: актри́су

So я встрéтил актри́су literally = “I met (whom?) actress” → “I met an actress.”

There is no word for “an” before актриса. How do I know it means “an actress” and not “the actress”?

Russian has no articles (a / an / the). Definiteness or indefiniteness is usually understood from context.

Я встрéтил актри́су can be translated as either:

I met *an actress* (new, unknown person)
I met *the actress* (already known from context)

To make it clearly indefinite, Russian might say однý актри́су – literally “one actress” – but in many cases the simple актри́су is enough and will be translated as “an actress” in English.

Why is it в трамвае and not в трамвай?

The preposition в can take either the prepositional case (местный) or the accusative case, depending on meaning:

в + prepositional = location (“in, inside, at”):
- в трамвáе – in the tram / on the tram (where something happens)
в + accusative = movement into / direction (“into, to”):
- в трамвáй – into the tram (movement inside)

Here the sentence describes where the meeting happened, not movement into the tram, so we use the prepositional: в трамвáе.

Could I say на трамвае instead of в трамвае?

Yes, but it means something different.

в трамвáе – inside the tram, physically there: I met an actress *on/in a tram (we were both passengers).*
на трамвáе – by tram / using a tram as transport: I went there by tram.

So я встрéтил актри́су в трамвáе = we were inside the tram when we met.
If you say на трамвáе, it sounds like you used a tram to get somewhere; it doesn’t normally describe where you met the person.

Can the word order be different? For example, can I say Я однажды встретил в трамвае актрису?

Yes, Russian word order is relatively flexible. Some common variants:

Однáжды я встрéтил актри́су в трамвáе. – very natural, neutral storytelling.
Я однáжды встрéтил актри́су в трамвáе. – also fine; a bit more focus on “I once met…”.
Я встрéтил актри́су в трамвáе однáжды. – possible, but однáжды feels like an afterthought.
Я встрéтил в трамвáе актри́су. – OK; slightly more emphasis on where you met her.
В трамвáе я встрéтил актри́су. – strong emphasis on “It was on the tram that I met an actress.”

All are grammatically correct; the differences are mainly in emphasis and style, not in basic meaning.

Is there a difference between актриса and артистка?

Both can be translated as “actress”, but usage differs:

актри́са – specifically a theatre / film actress, the standard word.
арти́стка – more general “female performer” (could be an actress, singer, dancer, circus artist, etc.), also can sound slightly more colloquial or stylistically colored.

In a neutral sentence like this, актри́са is the most straightforward and typical choice.

Could I omit я and just say Однажды встретил актрису в трамвае?

Yes, in informal speech or writing you can drop я here:

Однáжды встрéтил актри́су в трамвáе.

The verb ending ‑ил already shows 1st person singular masculine, so the subject is clear from context.
However, including я is more standard and explicit, especially in written or careful speech. Omitting it can sound more colloquial or “diary‑like”.

How do you pronounce each word and where is the stress?

Одна́жды – [ad‑NAHZH‑dy]; stress on на, жд like “zhd” in “Zhdanov”.
я – [ya], like “ya” in “yard” (but shorter).
встре́тил – [VS‑TRYE‑teel]; stress on встре́, встр is a cluster: v
- str; е after встр sounds like “ye”.
актри́су – [ahk‑TREE‑soo]; stress on ри.
в трамва́е – [f tram‑VAH‑ye];
- в is pronounced [f] here (also merges with the following consonant a bit),
- трамва́е has stress on ва, final е = “ye”.

So the main stresses are: однáжды – встрéтил – актри́су – трамвáе.