Learn Hardcore Russian: Я закрываю окно и думаю, что этот день в зоопарке был лучше любого выходного, проведённого дома. - I close the window and think that this day at the zoo was better than any day off spent at home.

Why is закрываю in the present tense here? In English I would say “I am closing the window” – is there a separate continuous tense in Russian?

Russian has only one present tense form for each imperfective verb; it covers both:

I close the window (regularly) and
I am closing the window (right now)

So я закрываю окно can mean either I close the window (habit) or I am closing the window (process) depending on context.

There is no special continuous tense in Russian. The simple present of an imperfective verb (закрывать → закрываю) is used for ongoing actions as well as repeated ones. Context here clearly suggests a right‑now, ongoing action.

Could we say я закрыл окно instead of я закрываю окно? What’s the difference?

Both are grammatically correct, but the nuance is different:

Я закрываю окно – focuses on the process happening right now: I am (in the act of) closing the window.
Я закрыл окно – perfective past, focuses on the result: I (have) closed the window / I closed the window (it’s already done).

In this sentence, using закрываю makes it feel like the speaker is closing the window right at the moment when the thought about the day occurs. If you use закрыл, it sounds more like: I closed the window and (after that) I think that… – the action is already finished.

Why is there no я before думаю? Could we say я закрываю окно и я думаю…?

You can say …и я думаю…, and it’s not wrong, but it’s unnecessary and sounds heavier.

In Russian, when two verbs share the same subject and are simply joined by и, it’s very natural to mention the subject only once:

Я закрываю окно и думаю… – я is understood as the subject for both закрываю and думаю.

Adding the second я (…и я думаю…) is usually done only if you want to emphasize a contrast or break the rhythm for some reason. In a neutral sentence like this, omitting the second я is more natural.

How does что work here? Is it the same as English “that” in “I think that…”? Can it be omitted?

Here что is a subordinating conjunction meaning that, introducing a clause that functions as the object of думаю:

думаю, что этот день… был лучше…
= I think that this day… was better…

Differences from English:

In English, you can usually drop that: I think (that) this day was…
In Russian, you normally keep что in such sentences:
Я думаю, что этот день… is the standard form.

Omitting что is possible only in some very colloquial, specific patterns, and after думать before a full clause it generally sounds ungrammatical or at least very odd. So here что is required.

Why is думаю in the present, but был in the past? How can present and past tenses mix like that?

This is very natural in Russian (and in English too, actually).

думаю – present: I am thinking / I think now
был – past: the day at the zoo is already over.

So the structure is:

Right now I think (present) that that day in the zoo *was (past) better than any day off at home.*

Same logic in English: I think (present) that yesterday *was (past) great.
The tense of *думаю refers to the time of thinking, and был refers to the time of the day in the zoo. They’re different times, so different tenses are normal.

What case is этот день in, and why?

Этот день is in the nominative case:

этот – nominative masculine singular
день – nominative masculine singular

It’s the subject of the verb был in the subordinate clause:

…что этот день в зоопарке был лучше…

So grammatically:
этот день = this day (subject)
был = was (verb)
лучше… = better (than…) (predicative / complement)

Why is it в зоопарке and not в зоопарк? What case is зоопарке?

В зоопарке uses the prepositional case (ending -е):

зоопарк (dictionary form, nominative)
в зоопарке – in/at the zoo (location)

Russian uses:

в + prepositional → for location
- в зоопарке – in the zoo
- в школе – at school
в + accusative → for direction / movement into
- в зоопарк – to the zoo
- в школу – to school

Here we are talking about where the day took place (location), not movement, so в зоопарке is correct.

Why is it был лучше любого выходного and not был лучше, чем любой выходной? Are both correct?

Both patterns are correct:

был лучше любого выходного
– uses the genitive of comparison (without чем).
Literally: was better of any day off → was better than any day off.
был лучше, чем любой выходной
– uses чем (than) plus the nominative:
was better than any day off.

In modern Russian, both types are common:

лучше любого выходного – slightly more compact, can sound a bit more literary/formal.
лучше, чем любой выходной – very clear, slightly more colloquial/neutral.

In this sentence, лучше любого выходного is perfectly natural and idiomatic.

What case is любого выходного, and why is выходного singular even though in English we say “better than any weekend(s) / day off”?

Любого выходного is genitive singular:

любой → любого (masc. gen. sg.)
выходной → выходного (masc. gen. sg.)

Reasons:

The genitive is used because of the genitive of comparison with лучше (see previous answer).
Singular because Russian uses the structure любой + singular noun to mean any (one) such X in general:
- лучше любого выходного – better than any day off (in general).
- любая книга – any (one) book.

So любого выходного is “any (single) day off”, but conceptually still “better than any day off (you could have had at home).”

What exactly is проведённого? Is it a verb, an adjective, or something else?

Проведённого is a full (long) passive past participle of the perfective verb провести (to spend [time], to lead through), used here as an adjective.

Verb pair: проводить (impf.) – провести (pf.)
Past passive participle (masc. nom. sg.): проведённый – spent (time), conducted

In the sentence:

любого выходного, проведённого дома
literally: of any day off, spent at home.

So проведённого behaves like an adjective modifying выходного, describing what kind of day off it is: “a day off spent at home.”

Why is the participle проведённого in the form -ого and not -ый / -ий? What is it agreeing with?

The base participle form is проведённый (masculine nominative singular), but it must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies.

It modifies выходного, which is:

masculine
singular
genitive

So проведённый changes to masculine genitive singular:

проведённый → проведённого

Thus:

любой выходной (nom.)
любого выходного, проведённого дома (gen.)

Проведённого is in the same case as выходного, because it is an agreeing modifier of that noun.

Could we replace любого выходного, проведённого дома with любого выходного, который я провёл дома? Is there any difference in meaning or style?

Yes, you can replace it:

лучше любого выходного, проведённого дома
лучше любого выходного, который я провёл дома

The meaning is essentially the same: better than any day off that I spent at home.

Differences:

Проведённого дома (participle phrase) is:
- more compact
- often a bit more literary or written‑style
который я провёл дома (relative clause) is:
- more explicit (you clearly see я провёл)
- feels very natural in spoken language

Both are correct and idiomatic; the participle version just sounds a bit more condensed and stylistically slightly more “written.”

What form is дома here? Why not в доме if it means “at home”?

Дома is historically a genitive form of дом, but in modern Russian it functions as an adverb meaning at home:

дома – at home (general place where you live)
в доме – in the house/building (inside a specific house)

So:

проведённого дома = spent at home (i.e., not going out, being at one’s place)
If you said проведённого в доме, it would sound like you spent the time inside some particular house (for example, not outside in the yard), which is a bit different nuance.

For the usual “at home” idea, дома is the standard word.

Can we change the word order in the second part, for example to что в зоопарке этот день был лучше любого выходного…? How flexible is the word order here?

Russian word order is relatively flexible, and several variants are possible:

что этот день в зоопарке был лучше любого выходного… (original – neutral)
что в зоопарке этот день был лучше любого выходного…
что этот день был в зоопарке лучше любого выходного… (less natural here)
etc.

However:

The given order этот день в зоопарке был лучше… is the most neutral and clear.
Moving в зоопарке to the front (что в зоопарке этот день был…) puts a bit more emphasis on the location in the zoo, but is still understandable and not wrong.

You must keep:

что at the start of the subordinate clause,
был after the subject phrase (though you can insert adverbials around it).

So the sentence is somewhat flexible, but the original word order sounds most natural and unmarked.