Волк не подошёл близко к ферме, потому что услышал собаку.

Подошёл is the perfective past form of подойти, which focuses on a completed result or single event.

Here, the idea is that the wolf did not come up close to the farm as a completed action:

• не подошёл = did not come up / did not approach
• не подходил would sound more like was not approaching, did not used to approach, or would focus less clearly on the completed result

So не подошёл близко к ферме means the wolf did not end up coming close to the farm.

This is the masculine singular past tense ending of the verb.

The infinitive is подойти. In the past tense:

• подошёл = masculine
• подошла = feminine
• подошло = neuter
• подошли = plural

Because волк is masculine singular, the verb must be подошёл.

Also note that ё is important here: подошёл is pronounced with stress on -ёл.

The preposition к means to / toward, and it requires the dative case.

The dictionary form is:

• ферма = farm

In the dative singular, it becomes:

• ферме

So:

• к ферме = toward the farm / to the farm

This is a very common pattern:

• к дому = toward the house
• к маме = toward mom
• к ферме = toward the farm

Because услышал takes a direct object, and direct objects are usually in the accusative case.

The dictionary form is:

• собака = dog

Its accusative singular is:

• собаку

So:

• услышал собаку = heard a/the dog

Also, собака is an animate noun, which matters in some patterns, but here the key point is simply that it is the direct object of услышал.

Russian often omits the subject pronoun when it is clear from context.

In this sentence:

• Волк не подошёл близко к ферме, потому что услышал собаку.

the subject of both verbs is clearly волк. So Russian does not need to repeat он.

English usually says because he heard a dog, but Russian naturally just says потому что услышал собаку.

You could say потому что он услышал собаку, but it is not necessary here.

Близко is an adverb meaning close, near, or nearby.

In this sentence it modifies the verb подошёл:

• подошёл близко = came close

So the phrase means:

• не подошёл близко к ферме = did not come close to the farm

Notice that English often says close to, while Russian uses:

• близко к
  • dative

Because потому что introduces a subordinate clause meaning because.

Russian punctuation normally puts a comma before subordinate clauses:

• ..., потому что услышал собаку.

This is very standard and directly comparable to English writing a clause after because, though Russian uses commas more consistently in such structures.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English because case endings show the grammatical roles.

The neutral order here is:

• Волк не подошёл близко к ферме, потому что услышал собаку.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Потому что услышал собаку, волк не подошёл близко к ферме.
• Волк, потому что услышал собаку, не подошёл близко к ферме.

These versions may sound more literary or emphasize different parts, but the original is the most natural straightforward version.

It can mean either. Russian has no articles, so nouns do not automatically tell you a vs the.

So:

• услышал собаку could mean heard a dog
• or heard the dog

You understand which one is meant from context. If the meaning has already been given to the learner, that tells you how to interpret it in this sentence.

In Russian, не normally goes directly before the verb it negates.

So:

• не подошёл = did not approach / did not come up

This is the regular way to negate a verb in the past tense:

• не слышал = did not hear
• не пришёл = did not come
• не понял = did not understand

They are different ideas.

• к ферме = toward the farm / up to the farm
• на ферму = to the farm in the sense of going onto its territory, to the farm as a destination

In this sentence, the focus is on coming close to the farm, not necessarily going onto it. That is why близко к ферме is used.

So the sentence is about proximity, not arrival at the farm itself.

A Russian speaker would break it down roughly like this:

• Волк — subject, wolf
• не подошёл — past masculine singular perfective, did not come up / did not approach
• близко к ферме — adverb + preposition phrase, close to the farm
• потому что — because
• услышал собаку — past masculine singular verb + direct object, heard a dog/the dog

So the structure is:

[subject] + [negated past verb] + [how/where] + [reason clause]

That makes it a very useful model sentence for practicing:

• past tense
• negation
• motion verbs
• к
  • dative
• direct objects in the accusative
• omitted pronouns