Я иду мимо дома.

I am walking past the house.

Breakdown of Я иду мимо дома.

• я: I
• дом: the house
• идти: to walk
• мимо: past

Questions & Answers about Я иду мимо дома.

What is the difference between я иду and я хожу?

Both come from verbs of motion meaning to go / to walk, but they are used differently:

• я иду – one‑way, right now, on foot.

  • Focus on a single movement in one direction, typically happening at this moment.
  • Roughly: I am going / I am walking (now) in one direction.

• я хожу – habitual, repeated, or multi‑directional motion on foot.

  • Used for habits, regular routes, or movement there and back.
  • Roughly: I go / I walk (regularly / in general).

In Я иду мимо дома, the speaker is describing what is happening at this moment, in one direction, on foot, so иду is the natural choice.

Why is it мимо дома and not мимо дом?

Because мимо is a preposition that always requires the genitive case.

• The noun дом (house) in the genitive singular is дома.
• So the pattern is: мимо + genitive → мимо дома (past the house).

Other examples:

• мимо школы – past the school (школа → школы, genitive)
• мимо магазина – past the shop (магазин → магазина, genitive)

Using мимо дом would be grammatically wrong, just like saying past he house in English.

What case is дома here, and how is it different from дом and дома in other meanings?

In Я иду мимо дома, the word дома is:

• Case: genitive
• Number: singular
• Dictionary form: дом (house)

Declension (singular):

• nominative: дом – the house (as subject)
• genitive: дома – of the house / past the house
• dative: дому
• accusative: дом
• instrumental: домом
• prepositional: (о) доме

Be careful: дома can also mean other things:

1. Nom./gen. plural of дом – houses
   
   • нет домов / много домов (genitive plural is домов, not дома)
2. дома as an adverb – at home
   
   • Я дома – I am at home.

In this sentence, context and the preposition мимо tell you that дома is genitive singular of дом, not “at home”.

Is мимо a preposition or an adverb, and how is it used?

In мимо дома, мимо is a preposition that means past / by / alongside, without entering and it takes the genitive case.

Pattern:

• мимо + genitive → movement past something without going into it.

Examples:

• Он прошёл мимо школы. – He walked past the school.
• Мы проехали мимо станции. – We drove past the station.

Мимо can also appear as an adverb in some expressions (e.g. ответ неверный, вы попали мимо – “you missed”), but in the sentence you gave, it is clearly a preposition.

Why does Russian say я иду for both I go and I am going? What about the continuous tense?

Russian does not have a separate grammatical form for the continuous (progressive) aspect like English (I am going, I am reading).

• я иду can mean both:
  • I am going / I am walking (now) – the usual interpretation in context.
  • Sometimes, depending on context, it can be translated as I go if the focus is still on a specific movement.

Whether you translate я иду мимо дома as I am walking past the house or I walk past the house depends on context, not on a special verb form. The Russian present tense of an imperfective verb can cover both simple and continuous English presents.

Why are there no words for a or the before дом? How do we know if it’s a house or the house?

Russian has no articles (no direct equivalents of a/an or the). Nouns appear without articles:

• дом could mean a house or the house.
• мимо дома could mean past a house or past the house.

Whether you translate it with a or the depends entirely on context and what is already known in the conversation. Russian relies on:

• Word order,
• Context,
• Additional words (like этот дом – this house, тот дом – that house, один дом – one house / a house),

rather than on articles.

Can I change the word order, for example to Я мимо дома иду, or drop the я and just say Иду мимо дома?

Both are possible, but they sound different:

1. Я иду мимо дома – the most neutral, normal word order.

2. Я мимо дома иду – grammatically correct, but marked / unusual.

   • Putting мимо дома in the middle gives it some emphasis, like:
     Me, I, past the house, am going – stylistically a bit odd in everyday speech.

3. Иду мимо дома – you can drop я because the verb ending -у already shows 1st person singular.

   • This is quite natural in Russian, especially when it’s clear who the subject is from context.
   • Feels a bit more “narrative” or situational: like answering Где ты? – Иду мимо дома.

So:

• Я иду мимо дома – safest, neutral.
• Иду мимо дома – fine in context, especially as an answer.
• Я мимо дома иду – not wrong, but stylistically marked; usually avoid it as a beginner.

What is the infinitive of иду, and why does it look so different from the infinitive?

The infinitive is идти (to go on foot, one way).

Present‑tense forms of идти are irregular:

• я иду – I go / I am going
• ты идёшь
• он / она / оно идёт
• мы идём
• вы идёте
• они идут

The stem changes (ид- → йд- / vowel changes), so the connection between идти and иду is not obvious at first. You just have to memorize this paradigm as an irregular verb of motion.

When do I use идти and when do I use ехать?

Russian distinguishes motion on foot vs. by vehicle / transport:

• идти – to go on foot (walk).

  • Я иду в школу. – I am going (walking) to school.
  • Я иду мимо дома. – I am walking past the house.

• ехать – to go by transport (car, bus, train, bike, etc.).

  • Я еду в школу. – I am going to school (by transport).
  • Я еду мимо дома. – I am going past the house (in a vehicle).

So if you’re walking past the house: Я иду мимо дома.
If you’re riding in a car past the house: Я еду мимо дома.

Is there a perfective form of иду, and how would the sentence change if I use it?

Yes. The perfective partner of идти is пойти (to set off / to start going).

Compare:

• Я иду мимо дома.

  • Imperfective, present.
  • Focus on the ongoing process: I am (in the middle of) walking past the house.

• Я пойду мимо дома.

  • Perfective, future meaning (perfectives don’t have present tense in normal usage).
  • Focus on the single future action, the decision or plan to go that way:
    I will go / I’ll take a route that goes past the house.

You would use пойду when you talk about a planned or single complete movement in the future.

How would I say I am going past the houses (plural)?

You need the plural of дом in the genitive, because мимо still takes genitive:

• nominative plural: дома – houses
• genitive plural: домов

With мимо:

• Я иду мимо домов. – I am walking past the houses.

So the pattern:

• singular: мимо дома – past the (a) house
• plural: мимо домов – past the (some) houses

What is the stress in иду and дома in this sentence?

Stress placement:

• иду́ – stress on -ду́
• до́ма in this sentence (genitive singular of дом) – stress on до́-

So, pronounced:

• Я иду́ ми́мо до́ма.

Be careful: in other meanings дома́ (with stress on the second syllable) is nominative plural: Дом стоял тут, а теперь здесь дома́. – There used to be a house here; now there are houses.

What is the nuance of мимо compared with около or через?

These all describe movement or location relative to something, but with different ideas:

• мимо (+ genitive) – past / by, without entering or stopping at the object.

  • Я иду мимо дома. – I am walking past the house (not going inside, just passing by).

• около (+ genitive) – near / by / around (location, not movement through).

  • Я стою около дома. – I am standing near the house.
  • With motion verbs, it usually suggests moving around/near something, not clearly past it.

• через (+ accusative) – through / across (you cross over or through something).

  • Я иду через парк. – I am walking through the park.
  • Я иду через дорогу. – I am walking across the road.

So:

• мимо дома – you go along the side, pass it, but do not cross it or go through it.
• через дом would be strange (you don’t normally walk “through” a house).
• около дома – just near the house; can be movement or location, but not necessarily past it.