Breakdown of Сегодня мы едем на экскурсию, несмотря на то, что идёт дождь.
на
on
мы
we
дождь
the rain
сегодня
today
Questions & Answers about Сегодня мы едем на экскурсию, несмотря на то, что идёт дождь.
Why does едем (present tense) refer to a future action here?
With verbs of motion, Russian often uses the present tense to talk about a planned or scheduled near-future trip. Сегодня мы едем… means Today we’re going / we’re off… (i.e., we have arranged to go today).
If you want to emphasize the start as a one-time event, you often use a perfective form like Сегодня мы поедем… (more like Today we will set off/go).
What’s the difference between мы едем and мы поедем?
- мы едем (imperfective, “we are going / we are travelling”) focuses on the trip as an ongoing or arranged process; in context it can mean we’re going today.
- мы поедем (perfective, “we will go / we will set off”) focuses on the single departure/decision to go as a completed event in the future.
Why is it на экскурсию and not в экскурсию?
Экскурсия is an event/activity, not a container-like place. Russian commonly uses на + Accusative for events:
- на экскурсию (on an excursion)
- на концерт, на встречу, на урок
в + Accusative is more typical for entering a place/space: в музей, в парк, в город.