Learn Hardcore Russian: На таможне много людей.

в is more about being inside a physical space (in a room, in a building).
на is used with:
- activities and processes: на работе (at work), на уроке (in class)
- public institutions/places as functions: на почте (at the post office), на вокзале (at the station)
- surfaces, open areas: на улице (in the street), на площади (in the square)

На таможне treats customs as an institutional place or control area (like на почте, на границе), so на is natural.
В таможне would sound strange, as if you were physically inside the customs administration building as a workplace, and even then Russians would usually still say на таможне.

What case is таможне in, and why does it end in -е?

Таможне is in the prepositional case, singular, feminine.

The noun таможня declines like this (singular):

Nominative: таможня (customs)
Genitive: таможни
Dative: таможне
Accusative: таможню
Instrumental: таможней
Prepositional: таможне

After на with a meaning of location (where?), we use the prepositional case:

на столе (on the table)
на почте (at the post office)
на таможне (at customs)

So таможня → таможне in the prepositional case.

Why is there no word for “there is/are” in this sentence?

Russian often does not use an explicit “there is/are” in sentences like this.

The basic pattern is:

[Place] + [what/how many]

So:

На таможне много людей.
literally: “At customs many people.”
natural English: “There are many people at customs.”

Russian has the verb есть (roughly “there is/are”), but:

It is usually omitted when the existence is obvious from context, especially with a clear location phrase.
You might say На таможне есть много людей, but it sounds heavier/less natural. Есть is more typical in contrasts or emphasis:
В магазине есть хлеб, но нет молока. – There is bread in the shop, but there is no milk.

Why is it много людей and not много люди or многие люди?

The key points:

Много (“many, much”) is a quantifier that requires the genitive case:
- много воды (a lot of water)
- много книг (many books)
- много людей (many people)
So we cannot say много люди (that’s nominative plural).
Многие люди is a different structure:
- много людей = a large number of people in general; quantity-focused.
- многие люди = many people as a specific group, often implying opinion or characteristic:
  Многие люди думают так. – Many people think so.

In На таможне много людей, the sentence is just describing how crowded it is, so много людей is correct.

What form is людей, and why does it look so different from люди?

Людей is the genitive plural of люди (people).

Nominative plural: люди – people (as the subject)
Люди ждут. – People are waiting.
Genitive plural: людей – of people / people (after numbers, quantities, etc.)
нет людей – there are no people
много людей – many people

The noun человек / люди is irregular:

Singular: человек (a person)
Plural (nominative): люди
Plural (genitive): людей

So много людей follows the rule “много + genitive plural” and uses this irregular genitive plural form.

Could you also say много человек instead of много людей?

Yes, много человек is also grammatically correct, and you will hear both.

Nuances:

много людей
- Slightly more personal, more like “many people” as individuals.
- Very common in everyday speech.
много человек
- Uses человек as a count form (“persons”).
- Sounds a bit more neutral/official in some contexts, especially with precise numbers:
  В зале было 50 человек. – There were 50 people in the hall.

In your sentence, На таможне много людей is very natural and perhaps more typical in casual speech, but На таможне много человек would not be wrong.

Is there any difference between На таможне много людей and Много людей на таможне?

Both are grammatically correct; the difference is in emphasis:

На таможне много людей.
- Neutral, basic description.
- Slight emphasis on the place first (at customs, it’s crowded).
Много людей на таможне.
- Puts more emphasis on “many people” first.
- Could answer a question like:
  – Где много людей? (Where are there many people?)
  – Много людей на таможне.

In everyday speech, На таможне много людей sounds the most natural as a stand‑alone comment.

How would you say the negative, like “There aren’t many people at customs” or “There are no people at customs”?

Two useful patterns:

“Not many people” – use мало:
- На таможне мало людей.
  = There aren’t many people at customs. / There are few people at customs.
“No people” – use нет
- genitive:
- На таможне нет людей.
  = There are no people at customs. / There’s nobody at customs.

Notice that нет also requires genitive (людей), just like много and мало do.

How do you pronounce На таможне много людей and where is the stress?

Word by word with main stress marked in capitals:

на – [na] (unstressed, very short)
тамОжне – [ta-MOZH-nye]
мнОго – [MNO-ga] (the г is like English g)
людЕй – [lyu-DYEY]

Full sentence (roughly):
na ta-MOZH-nye MNO-ga lyu-DYEY

All the content words (тамОжне, мнОго, людЕй) are stressed exactly as above.

What gender is таможня, and how does it decline in the plural?

Таможня is feminine (it ends in -я).

Plural forms:

Nominative plural: таможни – customs offices / customs posts
- На границе много таможен? – Are there many customs posts at the border?
Prepositional plural (after на, where?): на тамОжнях
- На таможнях всегда много людей. – There are always many people at customs posts.

In your sentence it’s singular because you are talking about one customs control area at a specific border/airport:
На таможне много людей.