Я пишу в дневник вечером.

I

Breakdown of Я пишу в дневник вечером.

• писать: to write
• в: in
• вечером: in the evening

Questions & Answers about Я пишу в дневник вечером.

Why is it в дневник and not в дневнике?

The preposition в can take either the accusative or the prepositional case, and the meaning changes:

• в + accusative = motion into / direction toward something
• в + prepositional = location inside something

In Я пишу в дневник вечером, в дневник is accusative singular, so it literally means “into the diary” – you are putting text into it.

Compare:

• Я пишу в дневник. – I write into my diary. (direction, where the writing goes)
• Это в дневнике. – It is in the diary. (location, where the information is)

This “medium of writing” idea normally uses в + accusative with писать:

• писать в тетрадь – to write in a notebook
• писать в чат – to write in a chat
• писать в блокнот – to write in a notepad

So в дневник is the normal pattern here.

Why is вечером used instead of something like в вечер?