Ранний поезд прибывает в город утром.

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Breakdown of Ранний поезд прибывает в город утром.

• город: the city
• поезд: the train
• прибывать: to arrive

Questions & Answers about Ранний поезд прибывает в город утром.

Why is it ранний поезд and not something like рано поезд?

Ранний is an adjective meaning early (describing a noun), while рано is an adverb meaning early (describing a verb).
In this sentence we are talking about what kind of train it is – an early train – so Russian uses the adjective: ранний поезд.
If you used рано, it would need to describe the verb: for example, поезд рано прибывает – the train arrives early.
So:

• ранний поезд = early train (adjective + noun)
• поезд рано прибывает = the train arrives early (noun + adverb + verb)

What form is ранний, and how does it agree with поезд?

Ранний is a masculine, singular, nominative adjective.
It agrees with поезд, which is also masculine, singular, nominative.
In Russian, adjectives must match the noun in:

• gender (masculine / feminine / neuter)
• number (singular / plural)
• case (nominative / accusative / etc.)

So:

• masculine nominative: ранний поезд
• feminine nominative: ранняя машина (early car)
• neuter nominative: раннее утро (early morning)
• plural nominative: ранние поезда (early trains)

Why is the verb in the present tense when we’re talking about a timetable (future arrival)?