Questions & Answers about На этой станции всегда много людей у эскалатора.
Why do we say на этой станции and not в этой станции?
Russian uses на with certain public places and transport points, including:
- на станции – at the station
- на вокзале – at the (railway) station/terminal
- на остановке – at the (bus) stop
- на почте – at the post office
- на заводе – at the factory
So на станции is a fixed, idiomatic combination meaning at the station.
В станции sounds wrong in Russian; people simply don’t say it that way for this meaning.
What case is этой станции, and why do both words change?
Этой станции is in the prepositional case, used here after на to show location.
- станция (fem., nominative singular) → станции (prepositional singular)
- эта (this, feminine nominative) → этой (feminine prepositional)
In Russian, adjectives and pronouns must agree in case, gender, and number with the noun they describe.
So эта станция (this station) becomes на этой станции (at this station).
Why is it много людей and not много человека or много люди?