Во дворе дети играют вечером.

In the yard, children play in the evening.

Breakdown of Во дворе дети играют вечером.

• вечером: in the evening
• играть: to play
• ребёнок: the child
• двор: the yard
• во: in

Questions & Answers about Во дворе дети играют вечером.

Why is it во дворе and not в двор or в дворе?

Russian has two forms of the preposition в / во. They mean the same thing (in / into), but во is used for ease of pronunciation before some consonant clusters.

Saying в дворе would create a hard-to-pronounce cluster вд at the start of the phrase. Adding the vowel о makes it smoother: во дворе.

The case is also important:

• во двор – accusative: into the yard (movement, direction)
• во дворе – prepositional: in the yard (location, where something happens)

In the sentence Во дворе дети играют вечером, we are talking about where the children are playing (location), so we need во дворе with the prepositional case.

What case is дворе, and why?

Дворе is in the prepositional case, singular.

The noun двор (yard) declines like this:

• nominative: двор (yard – subject form)
• genitive: двора
• dative: двору
• accusative: двор
• instrumental: двором
• prepositional: (о) дворе

When you talk about location with в / во (in, at), you normally use the prepositional:

• во дворе – in the yard
• в городе – in the city
• в магазине – in the store

So во дворе literally means in the yard.

Could I say Дети играют во дворе вечером instead? Is it still correct?

Yes, Дети играют во дворе вечером is completely correct.

Russian word order is flexible. Both:

• Во дворе дети играют вечером.
• Дети играют во дворе вечером.

mean essentially the same thing: Children play in the yard in the evening.

The difference is in emphasis / what comes first as the topic:

• Во дворе дети играют вечером. – Emphasis starts with the location (in the yard).
• Дети играют во дворе вечером. – Emphasis starts with the children.

In normal neutral speech, many speakers would probably use the second version, but the first one is also natural, especially if the yard is the already-known topic.

Why doesn’t Russian use words like the or a in this sentence, like in English?

Russian does not have articles (no direct equivalents of a / an / the).

So:

• дети can mean children, the children, or some children
• двор can be yard or the yard

You get the nuance (general vs specific) from context, not from separate words:

• Во дворе дети играют вечером.
  Could be understood as:
  • The children are playing in the yard in the evenings.
  • Children play in the yard in the evening.

Context (earlier sentences or situation) tells you whether we are talking about some particular children and a specific yard or just children and yards in general.

What tense is играют, and how is it different from English are playing / play?

Играют is:

• verb: играть (to play)
• person: 3rd person
• number: plural
• tense: present
• aspect: imperfective

It corresponds to they play or they are playing, depending on context. Russian has no separate present continuous form. The same form играют can mean:

• They are playing (right now).
• They (regularly) play.

Aspect (imperfective играть vs perfective сыграть / поиграть) is more important than progressive vs simple. Here играют is imperfective, expressing an ongoing or repeated action, which fits play / are playing in the evening.

Why is it вечером and not в вечер?

Вечером is the instrumental case of вечер (evening), and it’s used as an adverbial expression of time.

Some typical time expressions in Russian:

• утром – in the morning
• днём – in the afternoon, in the daytime
• вечером – in the evening
• ночью – at night

They look like nouns in the instrumental, but they function like adverbs meaning when something happens.

So instead of в вечер, Russian uses this fixed pattern: вечером = in the evening.

What is the difference between во дворе and на дворе?

Both are correct but have different typical uses.

• во дворе literally in the yard, often with the sense of being inside the courtyard space (enclosed yard, playground area, space between buildings, etc.).

• на дворе can literally mean in the yard / outside, but very often it means outdoors / outside the house or gives a sense of the outside environment or season:

  • На дворе зима. – It’s winter outside.
  • На дворе темно. – It’s dark outside.

With играть, both can appear, but:

• Дети играют во дворе. – You imagine them in the yard area specifically.
• Дети играют на дворе. – Slightly more like the kids are playing outside.

In the given sentence, во дворе focuses on the yard as a place.

Why is дети used and not something like ребёнки for plural?

The word ребёнок (child) has an irregular plural:

• singular: ребёнок – child
• plural: дети – children

This is just a historical, irregular plural form, like child → children in English.

So дети is the normal word for children. There is ребёнок → ребята in colloquial speech for a group of kids/guys, but дети here is the standard neutral word meaning children.

Could I say Дети играются вечером во дворе? What about играться?

The verb играться exists, but its use is more limited and different from English play.

• играть – to play (a game, a role, music, a sport, etc.)
• играться – to play in a childlike way; often used of little children or animals, or sometimes mildly disapproving (messing around, not serious).

In most neutral statements about kids playing, Russian prefers играть:

• Дети играют во дворе вечером. – Natural, neutral.
• Дети играются во дворе вечером. – Sounds colloquial/child-directed; some speakers may find it a bit babyish or non-standard in formal style.

So for standard usage, keep играют, not играются.

Is вечером describing the verb or something else? What is its function in the sentence?

Вечером answers the question когда? – when?

So grammatically, вечером is an adverbial modifier of time modifying the verb играют:

• играют (когда?) вечером – (They) play when? In the evening.

Similarly:

• во дворе answers где? – where? (adverbial of place)
• дети is the subject
• играют is the predicate (verb)

Why is there no comma in Во дворе дети играют вечером?

It is a simple sentence with:

• one subject: дети
• one predicate: играют
• two adverbial modifiers: во дворе (place), вечером (time)

Russian does not separate normal adverbials from the rest of the clause with commas. So no comma is needed.

You would see commas if:

• there were two clauses:
  Когда темнеет, дети играют во дворе.
• or detached adverbials with special emphasis:
  Вечером, как правило, дети играют во дворе.

Can I drop вечером or во дворе and still have a correct sentence?

Yes, both can be omitted independently:

• Во дворе дети играют. – In the yard, the children are playing.
• Дети играют вечером. – The children play in the evening.
• Дети играют. – The children play / are playing.

All are grammatically correct. You just lose some pieces of information (time or place) when you remove them.

What is the stress and approximate pronunciation of each word?

Stresses (marked with bold on the stressed syllable) and rough pronunciation:

• Во дворе – vo dvоré
  [vɐ dvɐˈrʲe]
• дети – дéти
  [ˈdʲetʲɪ]
• играют – игрáют
  [ɪˈɡra(j)ʊt]
• вечером – вéчером
  [ˈvʲet͡ɕɪrəm]

Only one stress per word, and the stressed syllable is pronounced longer and clearer than the others.

How would this sentence change if I wanted to emphasize that it happens every evening, as a regular habit?

Russian often adds adverbs of frequency or regularity for that nuance:

• Во дворе дети каждый вечер играют. – In the yard, the children play every evening.
• Во дворе дети обычно играют вечером. – In the yard, the children usually play in the evening.
• Во дворе дети всегда играют вечером. – In the yard, the children always play in the evening.

The original sentence Во дворе дети играют вечером is already compatible with a habitual meaning; context decides whether it is this evening or in the evenings generally. Adding каждый вечер / обычно / всегда removes the ambiguity.