Сейчас в университете идёт интересный семинар.

Yes, идти literally means to go or to be going, but in Russian it is also commonly used with events, performances, films, meetings, classes, and similar things.

So идёт семинар means:

• a seminar is going on
• a seminar is taking place
• a seminar is in progress

This is a very natural Russian way to talk about events happening right now.

In Russian, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So English:

• An interesting seminar is at the university now

in Russian does not need a present-tense word for is.

Instead, Russian simply says:

• Сейчас в университете идёт интересный семинар.

This is completely normal. Russian only uses forms of быть more clearly in the past, future, or in special constructions.

Because в университете expresses location, not movement.

Russian uses:

• в + Prepositional case for being somewhere
• в + Accusative case for going into somewhere

Here, the seminar is happening there, so it is a location:

• в университете = in / at the university

Compare:

• Я учусь в университете. = I study at the university.
• Я иду в университет. = I am going to the university.

So университете is the Prepositional case form of университет.

Because семинар is the subject of the sentence, so it stays in the nominative case.

• семинар is masculine singular nominative
• интересный matches it in gender, number, and case

That is why we get:

• интересный семинар

If the noun changed, the adjective would change too. For example:

• интересная лекция for a feminine noun
• интересное занятие for a neuter noun

Yes, Russian word order is flexible.

Starting with Сейчас puts the time frame first:

• right now, at the university, an interesting seminar is going on

This sounds natural because it sets the scene before introducing the seminar.

Other word orders are possible, for example:

• В университете сейчас идёт интересный семинар.
• Интересный семинар сейчас идёт в университете.

These versions are all understandable, but the emphasis changes slightly. The original sentence is a very natural neutral way to say it.

In Russian, в literally often corresponds to in, but in English the best translation is often at when talking about institutions.

So:

• в университете can mean at the university
• sometimes it can also be understood as in the university building

In this sentence, English would usually prefer at the university.

This is common with places like:

• в школе = at school
• в офисе = at the office
• в банке = at the bank

Yes, идёт is pronounced with yo, roughly like ee-DYOT.

The letter ё always represents a yo sound. In careful writing, it is written as ё, as in:

• идёт

In many printed texts, Russians often replace ё with е, so you may also see:

• идет

But the pronunciation is still идёт, not идет with a plain e sound. For learners, it is helpful when ё is written explicitly.

Yes. A very common alternative is проходит.

For example:

• Сейчас в университете проходит интересный семинар.

This also means that an interesting seminar is taking place now.

The difference is small:

• идёт often emphasizes that something is ongoing
• проходит emphasizes that the event is being held or taking place

In many everyday contexts, both are natural.

Russian does not have articles.

So where English must choose between:

• a seminar
• the seminar

Russian simply uses the noun:

• семинар

The exact meaning depends on context. In this sentence, English would usually say:

• an interesting seminar or
• the interesting seminar depending on the situation

But Russian does not mark that difference with an article.

With сейчас and идёт, it strongly suggests something happening now, at this moment, or at least at the present time.

So the sentence gives the idea that the seminar is currently in progress.

If сейчас were removed, the sentence could be a little less immediate and more dependent on context:

• В университете идёт интересный семинар.

That could still mean it is going on now, but сейчас makes the time reference explicit.