Вдоль пруда стоит низкий деревянный забор.

Along the pond there is a low wooden fence.

Breakdown of Вдоль пруда стоит низкий деревянный забор.

• стоять: to stand
• вдоль: along
• деревянный: wooden
• низкий: low

Questions & Answers about Вдоль пруда стоит низкий деревянный забор.

Why is пруда in the form пруда and not пруд or пруду? What case is this?

Пруда is in the genitive singular form of пруд (“pond”).

The preposition вдоль (“along”) always takes the genitive case:

• вдоль пруда – along the pond
• вдоль дороги – along the road
• вдоль берега – along the shore

So the pattern is:
вдоль + [genitive noun]

That’s why it must be пруда, not пруд or пруду.

---

What exactly does вдоль mean, and how is it different from у, около, or возле?

Вдоль means “along (the length of)” something. It suggests something stretching or positioned parallel to something else.

• Вдоль пруда стоит забор. – A fence stands along the length of the pond.

Other prepositions are more general “near”:

• у пруда, около пруда, возле пруда – “by the pond / near the pond”
  They don’t say anything about along the length, just proximity.

So:

• Use вдоль when you imagine a line: a fence, a row of trees, a path, etc.
• Use у / около / возле when you simply mean “near / by” without the idea of “alongside”.

---