Гулять в парке полезнее, чем сидеть дома.

Walking in the park is more useful than sitting at home.

Breakdown of Гулять в парке полезнее, чем сидеть дома.

• сидеть: to sit
• парк: the park
• в: in
• дома: at home
• гулять: to walk
• чем: than
• полезнее: more useful

Questions & Answers about Гулять в парке полезнее, чем сидеть дома.

Why are гулять and сидеть in the infinitive and not some other form like гуляю or a noun?

Russian often uses the infinitive to talk about actions in a general way, similar to English gerunds (walking, sitting).

• Гулять в парке = “(To) walk in the park / Walking in the park”
• сидеть дома = “(To) sit at home / Sitting at home”

In this sentence, each infinitive phrase functions like a noun phrase, describing an activity. You’re comparing the two activities:

• Гулять в парке – subject/thing 1
• сидеть дома – subject/thing 2
• полезнее – tells which one is “more useful/healthier”

Using nouns like гуляние or сидение would sound very bookish or unnatural here. Native speakers strongly prefer the infinitive constructions.

What exactly is полезнее grammatically, and how is it formed?

Полезнее is the comparative form of полезный (“useful”, “healthy, good for you”).

Base forms:

• полезный – useful (adjective)
• полезно – usefully / it is useful (adverb/predicative)

Comparative:

• полезнее – more useful / healthier

Formation:

• Many Russian adjectives form the comparative by adding -ее / -ей:
  • быстрый → быстрее (faster)
  • красивый → красивее (more beautiful)
  • полезный → полезнее (more useful)

In this sentence, полезнее works as a predicative word, describing the whole idea of гулять в парке:

• Гулять в парке полезнее… – “Walking in the park is more useful…”

You could also say (more formal, less natural here):

• Гулять в парке более полезно, чем сидеть дома.
  But полезнее is shorter and more natural in everyday speech.

Why is there a comma before чем in полезнее, чем сидеть дома?

In Russian, when чем introduces a comparison that includes its own verb or clause, you usually put a comma before it.

• Гулять в парке полезнее, чем сидеть дома.
  
  • Second part has a verb (сидеть) → comma needed.

Compare:

• Он выше меня. – No чем, no comma.
• Он выше, чем я. – Has чем and implied verb (чем я [есть] → “than I am”) → comma.

So in patterns like:

• X + comparative + , чем + infinitive/clause,
  the comma before чем is standard.

Why is it в парке but just дома (without a preposition)? What case is парке, and what is дома?

В парке:

• в
  • prepositional case = “in/at” a place
• парк → в парке (prepositional singular)
• Literally: “in the park”

Дома:

• дома is a special adverbial/locative form of дом.
• It means “at home”.
• You normally use сидеть дома, быть дома, остаться дома.

Contrast:

• сидеть дома – to stay/sit at home (general place, your home)
• сидеть в доме – to sit in a house (inside some house, more literal/physical)

So:

• в парке – standard prep + prepositional for a location
• дома – a fixed adverbial form, not just a simple case ending

Could I say гулять по парку instead of гулять в парке? What’s the difference?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different nuances:

• гулять в парке – “to walk / spend time in the park”

  • Focus on being in that area in general.
  • Neutral, the most common way to say it.

• гулять по парку – “to walk around the park / walk through the park”

  • Focus on moving around within the park, from place to place.
  • Often implies walking along paths, around the territory.

Your sentence could also be:

• Гулять по парку полезнее, чем сидеть дома.
  This is correct and natural; it just slightly emphasizes the movement around the park.

Can I change the word order, for example: Дома сидеть хуже, чем гулять в парке or Гулять в парке полезнее, чем дома сидеть?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and both of these are grammatical.

You can say, for example:

• Дома сидеть менее полезно, чем гулять в парке.
  (“Sitting at home is less useful than walking in the park.”)

• Гулять в парке полезнее, чем дома сидеть.
  (“Walking in the park is more useful than sitting at home.” – with emphasis on дома.)

The main rules:

• Keep the comparative construction intact:
  [Activity 1] + полезнее, чем [Activity 2]
• The infinitive and its complement normally stay together:
  • гулять в парке
  • сидеть дома

Changing the order mostly affects emphasis, not grammar.

Why is it сидеть дома, not быть дома? Is there a difference?

Yes, there’s a nuance:

• быть дома – “to be at home” (neutral, just presence)
• сидеть дома – literally “to sit at home”, but idiomatically:
  • “to stay home”
  • “to be cooped up at home”
  • implies passivity, lack of activity (often TV/computer/sofa image)

So:

• Гулять в парке полезнее, чем быть дома. – more neutral: being at home vs walking.
• Гулять в парке полезнее, чем сидеть дома. – suggests:
  • Walking in the park is healthier than just sitting around at home (doing nothing active).

The chosen verb сидеть underlines the contrast between active (walking) and inactive (sitting).

How is the verb гулять used in Russian? Does it always mean “to walk”?

Гулять can mean more than just literal “walking”:

1. To walk / stroll

   • Мы гуляем в парке. – We’re walking/strolling in the park.

2. To be out / hang out / spend time outdoors

   • Дети гуляют во дворе. – The kids are playing/hanging out in the yard.
   • Пойдём гулять. – Let’s go out (for a walk / to be outside).

In Гулять в парке полезнее…, гулять means not just “move your legs” but “spend time actively outside, walking in the park”, with the idea of a healthy outdoor activity.

Where is the stress in each word, and are there any pronunciation tips for this sentence?

Stresses:

• гуля́ть – gu-LYAT’ (stress on -ля́-)
• в па́рке – V PAR-ke (stress on па́-)
• поле́знее – po-LEZ-nee-ye (stress on -ле́з-)
• чем – CHEM (like “chem” in “chemical”, but softer ч)
• сиде́ть – see-DYET’ (stress on -де́-, final ть soft)
• до́ма – DO-ma (stress on до́-)

Connected speech tips:

• гуля́ть в па́рке – the в is usually very short, almost attached to парке: гуля́тьвпа́рке
• Final ть in гулять and сидеть is soft and not strongly released.
• поле́знее has three syllables: по-ле́з-не-е, but the last two often sound like [зн’ийэ] in fast speech, roughly “pa-LEZ-nee-ye”.