Learn Hardcore Russian: Женщина читает книгу в парке.

Whether you mean a woman is reading a book in a park or the woman is reading the book in the park is understood from context, not from special words.

So:

Женщина читает книгу в парке.
can mean:
- A woman is reading a book in a park.
- The woman is reading the book in the park.

Context (what was said before, what both speakers know) tells you whether something is new information (a…) or known/specific (the…).

Why is it женщина and not женщину or женщиной?

Женщина is in the nominative case, which is the basic dictionary form and is used for the subject of the sentence—the doer of the action.

Кто читает? (Who is reading?)
Женщина читает. → So женщина must be nominative.

Other forms of женщина:

женщину – accusative (usually the direct object: Я вижу женщину – I see a woman)
женщиной – instrumental (often “with/as”: Я работаю женщиной – I work as a woman / с женщиной – with a woman)

In this sentence, the woman is doing the action, so nominative женщина is correct.

Why is книга changed to книгу?

Книга (book) is the dictionary form (nominative case).
In the sentence, книгу is the direct object—it is what the woman is reading—so it must be in the accusative case.

For a typical feminine noun ending in ‑а, the singular accusative form ends in ‑у:

книга → книгу
машина (car) → машину
газета (newspaper) → газету

So:

Что она читает? (What is she reading?)
Она читает книгу.

What cases are used in this sentence, and on which words?

Breakdown of Женщина читает книгу в парке:

Женщина – nominative singular, feminine
- Role: subject (who is reading)
читает – verb, 3rd person singular, present tense, imperfective
- Role: predicate (the action)
книгу – accusative singular, feminine
- Role: direct object (what she is reading)
в парке – prepositional singular, masculine
- в – preposition
- парке – prepositional case of парк
- Role: adverbial phrase of location (where she is reading)

Why is it в парке, not в парк?

Russian distinguishes between motion to a place and location in a place using different cases:

В + accusative → motion to somewhere
- в парк = to the park (direction: going there)
- Мы идём в парк. – We are going to the park.
В + prepositional → being in / at somewhere (no motion)
- в парке = in the park / at the park (location)
- Мы сидим в парке. – We are sitting in the park.

In Женщина читает книгу в парке, she is already in the park, not going there, so the prepositional case в парке is used.

Why is it в парке and not на парке?

Both в and на can mean something like in / at / on, but they are used with different kinds of locations and are often fixed combinations.

в парке is the standard, natural phrase.
В is used with:
- enclosed spaces: в комнате (in the room)
- cities and countries: в Москве (in Moscow)
- most general locations: в школе (at school), в городе (in the city)
на is used for:
- surfaces: на столе (on the table)
- many open areas / fields: на площади (in the square)
- some fixed expressions: на работе (at work), на улице (in the street)

With парк, idiomatic Russian almost always uses в парке, not на парке.

How is читает formed, and what does this verb form tell me?

The infinitive is читать (to read).
It’s a first-conjugation verb. Present tense forms:

я читаю – I read / am reading
ты читаешь – you read (singular, informal)
он / она / оно читает – he / she / it reads
мы читаем – we read
вы читаете – you read (plural / formal)
они читают – they read

In Женщина читает книгу в парке:

The subject is женщина (she), so the verb must be 3rd person singular.
That form is читает.

This form also tells you it’s:

present tense
imperfective aspect (ongoing / repeated action, not focusing on completion)

What is the difference between читает and прочитает / читала / прочитала?

Russian verbs come in aspects: imperfective and perfective.

читать – imperfective (to read as a process or repeated action)
прочитать – perfective (to read through / to finish reading)

Examples:

Она читает книгу.
She is reading a book / She reads a book (focus on the process or habit).
Она прочитает книгу.
She will read (finish) the book. (future, outcome-focused)

Past tense:

Она читала книгу. – She was reading / she used to read (process, repeated).
Она прочитала книгу. – She read (finished) the book.

In our sentence:

читает = process now or a general habit, not emphasizing that she finished it.

Can the word order change, and if so, how does the meaning change?

Russian word order is flexible because cases mark who does what to whom. The neutral, most common order here is:

Женщина читает книгу в парке.
(Neutral: a woman is reading a book in the park.)

Other possible orders:

В парке женщина читает книгу.
- Emphasis on in the park (contrast with other places).
- Like: In the park, a woman is reading a book (not somewhere else).
Женщина в парке читает книгу.
- Slight emphasis that it is the woman in the park (not another woman) who is reading.
Книгу читает женщина в парке.
- Emphasis on книгу (the book), like answering What is being read?
- This kind of order is more stylistic or contextual.

All these are grammatically possible. The basic meaning stays the same, but the focus (what you highlight) changes.

How would the sentence change if there were several women or several books?

Several women, one book:
- Женщины читают книгу в парке.
  - женщины – plural nominative
  - читают – 3rd person plural
  - книгу – still singular accusative
One woman, several books:
- Женщина читает книги в парке.
  - книги – plural accusative (same form as plural nominative for inanimate nouns)
Several women, several books:
- Женщины читают книги в парке.

The park part stays the same:

в парке (singular) – they are in one park
в парках (plural) – in parks (in general / several parks)

How do I pronounce Женщина читает книгу в парке naturally?

Approximate pronunciation with stress marked in uppercase:

ЖЕ́нщина чита́ет кни́гу в па́рке

Breakdown:

женщина – ЖЕ́Н-щи-на
- ж = like s in measure (zh)
- щ here is pronounced close to long soft sh (like “sh” with the tongue more forward)
читает – чи-ТА́-эт
- ч = ch in chair
- ае in тает is two syllables: та-ет
книгу – КНИ́-гу
- кн is a cluster, like knee but with a k at the start
в парке – ф ПА́Р-ке
- In fast speech, в before a consonant often sounds like f or is very weak: [фпарке]

IPA (approximate):

[ˈʐɛnʂːɨnə t͡ɕɪˈta(j)ɪt ˈknʲigu f ˈparkʲɪ]

What level of “present” does читает express? Is it only “right now”?

Russian imperfective present can express both:

Right now / at this moment:
- Сейчас женщина читает книгу в парке.
  Right now a woman is reading a book in the park.
Regular / habitual action:
- Каждый день женщина читает книгу в парке.
  Every day a woman reads a book in the park.

Without extra context, Женщина читает книгу в парке can mean either:

she is currently reading, or
she habitually reads there.

Adverbs like сейчас (now), обычно (usually), каждый день (every day) clarify the nuance.

Could I replace женщина with она here, and what would that imply?

Yes, grammatically you can say:

Она читает книгу в парке. – She is reading a book in the park.

Differences:

Женщина читает книгу в парке.
- Introduces or specifies a woman (or the woman, depending on context).
- Useful when the person has not been mentioned before.
Она читает книгу в парке.
- Refers to she, someone who is already known in the conversation.
- You normally use она only after you’ve already identified who you’re talking about (e.g., previously said женщина or a name).

So you can replace it, but it changes whether the sentence introduces a new person (женщина) or refers back to a known one (она).