Уборка комнаты идёт медленно.

the room

Breakdown of Уборка комнаты идёт медленно.

• идти: to go
• медленно: slowly
• уборка: the cleaning

Questions & Answers about Уборка комнаты идёт медленно.

Why does идёт (from идти) mean “is going on / is in progress” here, instead of literally “goes / walks”?

In Russian, идти is often used metaphorically for processes, events, or activities, not just physical walking.

Patterns like:

• Урок идёт. – The lesson is in progress.
• Фильм идёт. – The movie is playing (is on).
• Строительство идёт медленно. – The construction is progressing slowly.

So Уборка комнаты идёт медленно is literally “The cleaning of the room goes slowly,” but idiomatically it means “The cleaning of the room is progressing slowly.” The verb идёт here signals an ongoing process, not physical movement.

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What case is комнаты in, and why is that case used?

Комнаты is in the genitive singular (from комната).

Why genitive? Because уборка комнаты is like “cleaning of (the) room”. The noun уборка (cleaning) behaves like a verbal noun derived from убирать (to clean, to tidy). The thing being cleaned (the “object” of the cleaning) often appears in the genitive after such nouns:

• уборка комнаты – cleaning of the room
• ремонт машины – repair of the car
• изучение языка – study of the language

So комнаты answers “of what?” and therefore uses the genitive.

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