Learn Hardcore Russian: Для меня идеальный выходной — это прогулка в тихом парке с другом. - For me, the ideal day off is a walk in the quiet park with a friend.

Для меня идеальный выходной — это прогулка в тихом парке с другом.

For me, the ideal day off is a walk in the quiet park with a friend.

Breakdown of Для меня идеальный выходной — это прогулка в тихом парке с другом.

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Questions & Answers about Для меня идеальный выходной — это прогулка в тихом парке с другом.

Why is меня used after для, and not я?

The preposition для (for) always takes the genitive case in Russian.

The pronoun я declines like this:

я – I (nominative)
меня – of me / me (genitive & accusative)
мне – to/for me (dative)
мной – by/with me (instrumental)
обо мне – about me (prepositional)

Because для requires the genitive, you must say для меня (“for me”), not для я.

Examples:

для него – for him
для нас – for us
для тебя – for you

If it means “weekend / day off”, why is выходной singular and not plural выходные?

Russian distinguishes between:

выходной (день) – a day off, a non-working day (singular)
выходные (дни) – the weekend, days off (plural)

In идеальный выходной, выходной is singular: literally an ideal day off or an ideal free day.

If you want to stress the whole weekend, you could say:

Для меня идеальные выходные — это прогулка в тихом парке с другом.
“For me, the ideal weekend is a walk in a quiet park with a friend.”

Both are possible, but they are slightly different ideas: one perfect day vs. perfect weekend as a whole.

Why is there a dash and это: идеальный выходной — это прогулка? Can I leave them out?

The pattern X — это Y is a very common way to say “X is Y” in Russian, especially when both X and Y are nouns in the nominative.

Here:

идеальный выходной = “the ideal day off” (subject)
прогулка в тихом парке с другом = “a walk in a quiet park with a friend” (what it is)

The dash — visually marks the link, and это functions almost like an “is” here.

Possible variants:

Для меня идеальный выходной — это прогулка в тихом парке с другом.
Very natural, neutral, standard.
Для меня идеальный выходной — прогулка в тихом парке с другом.
Also correct; in informal style the это can be dropped. The dash stays.
Для меня идеальный выходной есть прогулка…
Grammatically possible but sounds unnatural/old-fashioned in modern Russian.

You cannot simply say:

Для меня идеальный выходной прогулка в тихом парке…
That sounds wrong; you need either a dash or something like это/есть to link the two nouns.

Why is прогулка in the nominative case?

In the structure X — (это) Y, both X and Y are in the nominative case:

идеальный выходной – nominative (subject)
прогулка в тихом парке с другом – nominative (predicative complement)

It works like English “An ideal day off is a walk…”, where both day off and walk are not marked for any special case; Russian expresses that by using nominative on both sides of the linking structure.

Similarly:

Моя мечта — путешествие по миру.
“My dream is traveling around the world.”
(мечта – nominative, путешествие – nominative)

Why is it в тихом парке, not в тихий парк?

The preposition в can take either prepositional or accusative case, depending on meaning:

в + accusative = direction, “into / to where?”
- Я иду в парк. – I am going to the park.
в + prepositional = location, “in / at where?”
- Я в парке. – I am in the park.

In прогулка в тихом парке, we are describing the location of the walk (“a walk in a quiet park”), not movement towards it, so we use prepositional:

в парке (not в парк).

Because парк is in the prepositional (парке), the adjective must also be in the prepositional:

тихий парк → в тихом парке

Why тихом парке and not something like тихий парк or тихом парку?

Russian adjectives and nouns must agree in gender, number, and case.

The base forms:

тихий парк – quiet park (masculine singular, nominative)

Now we put парк after в meaning “in the park”.
в + где? (where?) → prepositional case:

парк → парке (masculine, prepositional singular)
тихий → тихом (masculine, prepositional singular)

So:

в тихом парке = in a quiet park

тихом парку would mix cases (adjective in prepositional, noun in dative) and is grammatically wrong here.

Why is it с другом? What case is that, and could I say со другом?

The preposition с meaning “with (someone)” requires the instrumental case.

The noun друг (friend) declines like:

Nominative: друг
Genitive: друга
Dative: другу
Accusative: друга
Instrumental: другом
Prepositional: о друге

So “with a friend” = с другом (preposition с + instrumental другом).

About с vs со:

с is the normal form.
со is used:
- before some consonant clusters to make pronunciation easier:
  со мной, со мной, со вторника, со стола, со всеми.
- sometimes for stylistic/poetic reasons.

С другом is the standard form. Со другом would sound archaic or poetic in modern speech.

If your friend is female (подруга):

Instrumental: подругой
“with a (female) friend” = с подругой

Can I change the word order and say Идеальный выходной для меня — это прогулка…? Does the meaning change?

Yes, you can say:

Идеальный выходной для меня — это прогулка в тихом парке с другом.

This is fully correct. The basic meaning is the same.

The difference is mainly in emphasis:

Для меня идеальный выходной…
Slight emphasis on для меня (“for me the ideal day off is…”), highlighting that it’s your personal opinion, maybe contrasting with others.
Идеальный выходной для меня…
Slightly more focus on what идеальный выходной is in your case, but the nuance is small. Both are natural.

Russian word order is flexible; moving для меня changes what is emphasized, but not the core meaning.

Could I say идеальный для меня выходной instead of starting with Для меня идеальный выходной?

Yes:

Идеальный для меня выходной — это прогулка в тихом парке с другом.

is also grammatical and natural.

Nuance:

Для меня идеальный выходной…
More like: “For me, an ideal day off is…”
Идеальный для меня выходной…
More like: “The day off that is ideal for me is…”

Both are acceptable; the second one keeps the phrase идеальный выходной together and inserts для меня inside it as a modifier (“ideal-for-me day off”).

Could I use a verb and say something like На идеальном выходном я люблю гулять… instead of using прогулка?

You can definitely express the idea with a verb, for example:

В идеальный выходной я люблю гулять в тихом парке с другом.
“On an ideal day off I like to walk in a quiet park with a friend.”

Differences:

…идеальный выходной — это прогулка…
Uses the noun прогулка (“a walk”) as the definition of what the ideal day off is.
…я люблю гулять…
Uses the verb гулять (“to walk, to stroll”) and talks about what you like to do on that day.

Both are correct; the original sentence is a definition-type statement (“for me, an ideal day off is X”), while the verb version describes your usual behavior on such a day.

Where is the stress in each word of the sentence?

Here is the sentence with stressed vowels marked:

для меня́ идеа́льный выходно́й — э́то прогу́лка в ти́хом па́рке с дру́гом.

Word by word:

для – (one syllable; no special mark, but often pronounced close to “длЯ”)
меня́ – me-NYÁ (stress on я)
идеа́льный – ee-de-AHL-nyy (stress on the second а)
выходно́й – vy-khad-NÓY (stress on о́й)
э́то – É-to (stress on э́)
прогу́лка – pro-GÚL-ka (stress on у)
в – (unstressed)
ти́хом – TEE-khom (stress on и)
па́рке – PÁR-ke (stress on а)
с – (unstressed)
дру́гом – DROÓ-gom (stress on у)

Correct stress is very important in Russian; misplacing it can sometimes make words hard to understand or sound unnatural.