Learn Hardcore Russian: Мы идём дальше по тихой улице.

идти – one-direction, a single movement in progress (like “to be going/walking right now” in one direction)
ходить – multi-direction, habitual or back-and-forth movement (“to go (there and back / regularly)”)

Мы идём дальше по тихой улице describes one concrete movement that is happening now, in one direction along the street. So you must use идти → мы идём.

Мы ходим по тихой улице would mean something like “We (generally) walk along the quiet street” (regularly, as a habit), not “we are (right now) walking further along the quiet street.”

What exactly is the form идём? Person, number, tense, aspect?

Идём is:

person: 1st person
number: plural
tense: present
aspect: imperfective (ongoing, process)

Full present-tense forms of идти (to go on foot, one direction):

я иду
ты идёшь
он / она / оно идёт
мы идём
вы идёте
они идут

So мы идём = “we go / we are going (on foot).”

Why does идём have ё, and do Russians always write it that way?

The correct full spelling is идём with ё, pronounced [ee-DYOM].

However, in most printed and typed Russian, ё is often written as е, so you’ll see идем in many texts. Native speakers know from context and grammar that it must be pronounced идём.

For learners, it’s good to mentally restore ё whenever you see it omitted, because:

ё is always stressed.
It changes pronunciation: е is like “ye” (unstressed often reduced), ё is like “yo.”

So:

spelling in careful texts: идём
common printed form: идем
pronunciation: идём /idʲom/.

What does дальше do in this sentence, and where can it go?

Дальше is an adverb meaning “further” / “farther” / “onward”.
In Мы идём дальше по тихой улице, it modifies the verb идём:

literally: “We are going further along the quiet street.”

Word order is quite flexible. You can also say:

Мы дальше идём по тихой улице.
Мы идём по тихой улице дальше.

All are possible, but:

Мы идём дальше по тихой улице sounds very natural and neutral.
Moving дальше later can slightly emphasize where you’re going further (“along the street, further”).

Don’t confuse:

дальше – “further (in space/time/sequence)”
потом – “later, afterwards (in time, next event)”

Why is the preposition по used here, and what case does it take in по тихой улице?

In this sentence по means “along” (moving on/along a surface or route).

With this meaning (“along” a street, road, river, etc.), по normally takes the dative case:

идти по улице – to walk along the street
идти по дороге – to walk along the road
гулять по парку – to stroll through/around the park

So:

тихая улица – quiet street (nominative)
по тихой улице – along the quiet street (dative; both words change form)

That’s why you see тихой улице, not тихая улица.

Could we use на instead of по, like на тихой улице? What’s the difference?

Yes, на тихой улице exists, but it has a different nuance.

идти по тихой улице – emphasizes movement along the street (following its length, its line).
идти на тихой улице – literally “to be going on a quiet street”; it sounds like you describe the location of the going, not the direction along it. It’s less idiomatic for “walking along the street.”

More typical uses:

Мы живём на тихой улице. – We live on a quiet street. (location)
Мы идём по тихой улице. – We are walking along the quiet street. (path / route)

So for “walking further along the street,” по is the natural choice.

Why do both words тихой and улице change their endings here?

Because in Russian:

Nouns change form depending on case.
Adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

Base forms (nominative singular):

adjective: тихий (quiet)
noun: улица (street) – feminine

In the sentence we need dative singular (required by по with this meaning “along”):

улица → улице (feminine dative singular)
тихий → тихой (feminine dative singular)

So:

по тихой улице = along the quiet street
(preposition по
- dative; adjective and noun agree in case, gender, and number)

Why isn’t it тихая улица here? I learned that’s “quiet street.”

Тихая улица is indeed “quiet street” in the nominative case – used when the street is the subject:

Тихая улица пустая. – The quiet street is empty.

But after по (with the meaning “along”), Russian requires the dative case, not nominative. So:

nominative: тихая улица
dative: тихой улице

That’s why the phrase becomes по тихой улице in this sentence.

How flexible is the word order in Мы идём дальше по тихой улице? Can I move parts around?

Russian word order is relatively flexible, especially compared to English. All of these are grammatically possible:

Мы идём дальше по тихой улице. (neutral, very natural)
Мы идём по тихой улице дальше. (slight emphasis on “further” as the result)
Мы дальше идём по тихой улице. (emphasizes “further / from now on we’re going…”)
Дальше мы идём по тихой улице. (stronger initial focus on “further / next”)

The basic “default” and most common for a simple statement is the original:
Мы идём дальше по тихой улице.

Changing word order usually doesn’t change the core meaning, but can shift emphasis or style (more poetic, contrastive, etc.).

Can we drop мы and just say Идём дальше по тихой улице?

Yes. Russian often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows person and number.

Мы идём дальше по тихой улице. – full, explicit
Идём дальше по тихой улице. – “(Let’s) go further along the quiet street.” / “We’re going further along the quiet street.”

Without мы, it can sound slightly more:

narrative (“We’re going further along the quiet street…” in a story), or
like a suggestion/command, similar to English “Let’s go further …”

Context will usually make the intended meaning clear.

Does Russian distinguish between “we go” and “we are going” in this sentence?

No. Russian has only one present tense form for most verbs; it covers both English “we go” and “we are going.”

Мы идём дальше по тихой улице can mean:

“We are going/walking further along the quiet street” (right now, in progress)
In some contexts, possibly a more general description (“We walk further along the quiet street”), but the verb идти usually suggests a process happening now or in a specific situation.

To express a clear habitual “we walk (there regularly)”, Russian would more typically use ходить:

Мы часто ходим по этой тихой улице. – We often walk along this quiet street.

Could we use a different verb like гуляем instead of идём? What would change?

Yes, you can use other motion-related verbs, but the nuance changes:

Мы идём дальше по тихой улице.
Neutral “We are going/walking further along the quiet street.” Focus on movement (going somewhere).
Мы гуляем дальше по тихой улице.
Literally “We are strolling further along the quiet street.”
Гулять adds a nuance of leisurely walking / strolling / hanging out, not necessarily going to a specific destination.
Мы идём пешком дальше по тихой улице.
“We are going further along the quiet street on foot” (explicitly not by car, bus, etc.).

So идём is the most neutral and default for simple physical movement on foot.