Я иду в поликлинику вечером.

I am going to the clinic in the evening.

Breakdown of Я иду в поликлинику вечером.

• я: I
• в: to
• идти: to go
• вечером: in the evening
• поликлиника: the clinic

Questions & Answers about Я иду в поликлинику вечером.

Why is it иду and not хожу or пойду?

Russian has several verbs for “to go (on foot)”, and they are not interchangeable:

• идти → иду = to go / to be going (on foot) right now or one specific time
• ходить → хожу = to go (on foot) regularly, habitually, back and forth
• пойти → пойду = to set off / to start going (on foot), one-time, future-looking

So:

• Я иду в поликлинику вечером.
  Focus: this specific occasion (“I’m going / I’m on my way this evening”).

• Я хожу в поликлинику вечером.
  Focus: habit (“I (usually/regularly) go to the clinic in the evenings”).

• Я пойду в поликлинику вечером.
  Focus: decision / plan to start going at that time (“I will go / I’ll set off to the clinic in the evening”).

The original sentence talks about one specific trip (tonight or some evening already decided), so иду is natural.

Does иду mean I am walking, or can it also mean I’m going by bus/car?

Literally, идти / иду means to go on foot, to walk.

In careful, precise Russian:

• иду = going on foot
• еду = going by transport (car, bus, train, etc.)

So:

• Я иду в поликлинику вечером. – I’m walking to the clinic in the evening.
• Я еду в поликлинику вечером. – I’m going to the clinic (by bus/car/etc.) in the evening.

In casual speech, some people may stretch идти a bit more generally, but if you want to be correct and clear, use:

• идти – on foot
• ехать – by vehicle

Why is it в поликлинику and not в поликлиника?

After the preposition в meaning “to, into” (direction), Russian uses the accusative case.

• Nominative (dictionary form): поликлиника
• Accusative (with motion “into”): поликлинику

So the pattern is:

• Я иду в поликлинику. – I’m going to the clinic.
• Я в поликлинике. – I am in the clinic (prepositional case, location).

Rule to remember:

• в + Accusative → motion into / to a place
• в + Prepositional → in / at a place

Why is it в поликлинику and not к поликлинике?

Both в and к can sometimes translate as “to”, but they are different:

• в + accusative (в поликлинику) = into, inside the place
  → Focus: entering / going inside the building.

• к + dative (к поликлинике) = towards, to (up to) something
  → Focus: approaching it, not necessarily going inside.

So:

• Я иду в поликлинику. – I’m going to the clinic (to go inside).
• Я иду к поликлинике. – I’m going towards the clinic (to that area / up to it).

In your sentence, you mean going to the clinic as a place where you’ll enter, so в поликлинику is correct.

Why is there no preposition before вечером (why not в вечером)?

Вечером is the instrumental case of вечер (“evening”), and in Russian, time expressions in the instrumental often work as adverbs of time, without a preposition.

Common patterns:

• утро → утром – in the morning
• день → днём – in the daytime / in the afternoon
• вечер → вечером – in the evening
• ночь → ночью – at night

So you just say:

• Я иду в поликлинику вечером. – I’m going to the clinic in the evening.

You do not say в вечером. The case ending -ом / -ью itself expresses the “in/at that time” meaning.

Could I say Вечером я иду в поликлинику instead? Does word order change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

• Вечером я иду в поликлинику.

Both:

• Я иду в поликлинику вечером.
• Вечером я иду в поликлинику.

are grammatically correct and mean the same basic thing.

Nuance of word order:

• Я иду в поликлинику вечером.
  More neutral; the sentence starts with the subject я. The time вечером is extra information at the end.

• Вечером я иду в поликлинику.
  Slightly more emphasis on when: “As for the evening, (that’s when) I’m going to the clinic.”

In everyday speech, both are very natural; the difference is subtle and mostly about rhythm and focus.

How do I say “I usually go to the clinic in the evening” in Russian?

To express habit / regular action, use ходить instead of идти:

• Я обычно хожу в поликлинику вечером.

Breakdown:

• я – I
• обычно – usually
• хожу – I (regularly) go (on foot)
• в поликлинику – to the clinic
• вечером – in the evening

Compare:

• Я иду в поликлинику вечером. – I’m going (this time, this evening).
• Я обычно хожу в поликлинику вечером. – I usually go to the clinic in the evening (habit).

Is иду present or future? In English we say “I am going (this evening)” as a future plan.

Grammatically, иду is present tense of идти.

However, in Russian the present tense of a motion verb can describe a near future arrangement, especially with a time expression:

• Я иду в поликлинику вечером.
  Literally: I am going to the clinic in the evening, but it also naturally means I’m going (will go) this evening.

Context + the word вечером make it clear it’s about the future. This is similar to English “I am going to the doctor tomorrow”: grammatically present, but future in meaning.

Russian has no articles. Does в поликлинику mean “to the clinic” or “to a clinic”?

Russian does not have a / an / the, so в поликлинику can correspond to either “to the clinic” or “to a clinic”, depending on context.

• If both speaker and listener know which clinic is meant (e.g. their local one), you’d translate it as “to the clinic”.
• If it’s not a specific known clinic, you might translate it as “to a clinic”.

The Russian phrase itself is neutral; specific vs non-specific meaning comes from the context, not from an article.

How do you pronounce and stress the words иду, поликлинику, and вечером?

Approximate pronunciation (stressed syllables in bold):

• иду – [ee-DOO]

  • Stress: on -ду
  • The initial я in full form я иду is [ya ee-DOO].

• поликлинику – [pə-lee-KLEE-nee-koo]

  • Stress: on кли: по-ли-кли-ни-ку

• вечером – [VYE-chee-rəm]

  • Stress: on ве: ве-че-ром
  • е after в is pronounced like “vye”.

Russian stress is fixed per word but not predictable by rule, so you generally need to learn it word by word.

Is the pronoun я necessary, or can I just say Иду в поликлинику вечером?

You can drop the pronoun and say:

• Иду в поликлинику вечером.

Russian is a pro-drop language: the verb ending (-у in иду) already shows the subject is “I”, so я is often omitted if the subject is clear from context.

• Я иду в поликлинику вечером. – neutral, full form.
• Иду в поликлинику вечером. – also natural, a bit more informal / conversational, or used when the subject is obvious.

Using я can add a little extra emphasis on I (“I’m the one going…”), but often it’s just stylistic.

What gender is поликлиника, and why does it become поликлинику here?

Поликлиника is a feminine noun ending in -а.

Its singular declension (some key cases):

• Nominative (subject): поликлиника – The clinic is new.
• Accusative (motion into/towards, or direct object): поликлинику – I’m going to the clinic.
• Prepositional (location): в поликлинике – I am in the clinic.

Feminine nouns ending in -а usually change -а → -у in the accusative case (when they are the direct object or after motion в / на with direction):

• в школу (from школа)
• в комнанту (from комната)
• в поликлинику (from поликлиника)

So here в поликлинику uses the accusative to show direction: “into/to the clinic.”

Can I use the same pattern with other times of day, like morning or night?

Yes. The structure with идти / ходить + в + accusative + [time in instrumental] is very common.

Examples:

• Я иду в поликлинику утром. – I’m going to the clinic in the morning.
• Я иду в поликлинику днём. – I’m going to the clinic in the daytime / in the afternoon.
• Я иду в поликлинику ночью. – I’m going to the clinic at night.

Time words:

• утро → утром – in the morning
• день → днём – in the daytime
• вечер → вечером – in the evening
• ночь → ночью – at night

All of them work like вечером in your original sentence.