Breakdown of Летом мы любим ездить в загородный дом к друзьям.
друг
the friend
дом
the house
любить
to love
в
to
Questions & Answers about Летом мы любим ездить в загородный дом к друзьям.
Why is it Летом and not лето or в лето?
Летом is the instrumental case of лето and is the standard way to say “in (the) summer / during summer” in Russian.
Russian often uses the bare instrumental (no preposition) for seasons and times of day:
- зимой – in winter
- весной – in spring
- летом – in summer
- осенью – in autumn
- утром, днём, вечером, ночью – in the morning / day / evening / at night
В лето is archaic/poetic and not used in modern everyday speech in this meaning.
Why is the verb ездить used here instead of ехать or идти?
Ездить is the multidirectional verb of motion meaning “to go (by vehicle) habitually, repeatedly, in different directions.”
The sentence describes something you do regularly every summer, so the habitual, multidirectional verb is needed:
- ездить – to go (by transport) regularly / back and forth / in general
- ехать – to go (by transport) in one specific direction, usually right now or one trip
- идти / ходить – the same contrast, but on foot (идти = one direction, ходить = habitual/multiple)
So мы любим ездить = we like (habitually) to go by transport.
What does literally mean, and how is it different from ?