Когда мы гуляли по центру, гид показал нам главную достопримечательность города.

the city

Breakdown of Когда мы гуляли по центру, гид показал нам главную достопримечательность города.

• мы: we
• гулять: to walk
• когда: when

Questions & Answers about Когда мы гуляли по центру, гид показал нам главную достопримечательность города.

Why is there a comma after центру?

Because the sentence starts with a subordinate clause introduced by когда (When…). In Russian, a когда-clause is normally separated from the main clause by a comma:

• Когда мы гуляли по центру, … = When we were walking around the center, …

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What tense is гуляли and why does it look like “we were walking” rather than “we walked”?

Гуляли is past tense plural of гулять. The verb is imperfective, which often describes an ongoing/background action in the past (“were walking,” “used to walk,” “walked around” depending on context). Here it sets the scene while the main event happens.

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Why is показал used instead of показывал?

Показал is perfective past (one completed action): the guide showed (successfully, as a single event).
Показывал would be imperfective and would suggest a process/repetition (“was showing,” “used to show,” “showed things for a while”), which doesn’t fit as neatly with one specific highlight.

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What case is по центру, and why is it not в центре?