Дети играют рядом с горкой.

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Breakdown of Дети играют рядом с горкой.

• рядом с: next to
• ребёнок: the child
• горка: the hill

Questions & Answers about Дети играют рядом с горкой.

Why is горкой in that form instead of горка?

Because after рядом с (next to / beside), Russian uses the instrumental case.

• Dictionary form: горка
• Instrumental singular: горкой

So:

• с горкой = with / next to a slide
• рядом с горкой = next to the slide

This is one of the most important things to notice in the sentence: the preposition-like expression рядом с requires the noun after it to be in the instrumental.

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Why is there both рядом and с? Doesn’t с usually mean with?

Yes, с often means with, but in the expression рядом с, the two words work together as a set phrase meaning next to or beside.

So you should learn it as a unit:

• рядом с домом = next to the house
• рядом с машиной = next to the car
• рядом с горкой = next to the slide

Here, с is not being used in the basic English sense of with. It is part of the fixed expression рядом с.

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What case is горкой, exactly?