Мы поехали в центр не впустую: нам удалось и купить подарок, и зайти в аптеку.

Поехали is the past tense plural of поехать, a perfective verb meaning to set off / to go by transport.

In this sentence, it focuses on the trip as a completed event: we went / we headed off to the center.

Compare:

• Мы поехали в центр = We went / set off to the center
• Мы ехали в центр = We were going / were on the way to the center

So поехали presents the journey as a whole, not as an ongoing process.

В центр means to the center / into the center, showing movement toward a destination.

After verbs of motion, Russian often uses:

• в + accusative for going into/to
• на + accusative for going onto/to
• к + dative for going toward someone's place / toward something

So:

• в центр = to the center
• к центру = toward the center

Here the idea is that they actually went there, so в центр is the natural choice.

Не впустую means not in vain, not for nothing, not uselessly.

The word впустую means something like to no purpose or for nothing. With не, it means the opposite: the trip turned out to be worthwhile.

So:

• Мы поехали в центр не впустую = Our trip to the center wasn’t pointless / wasn’t for nothing

It sounds quite natural in Russian when you want to say that some effort ended up being useful.

The colon introduces an explanation of why the trip was not in vain.

Structure:

• Мы поехали в центр не впустую: = We didn’t go to the center for nothing:
• then comes the explanation: нам удалось и купить подарок, и зайти в аптеку

In English, you might also use a colon in the same way.

Удалось comes from удаться, which means to succeed, to work out, or to manage to.

The structure is:

• кому?
  • удалось / удастся / удавалось
• plus an infinitive or clause

So:

• нам удалось купить подарок = we managed to buy a gift
• literally: to us it succeeded to buy a gift

Russian expresses this idea impersonally. That is why нам is used instead of мы.

Because удаться requires the person experiencing the success to be in the dative.

So:

• мне удалось = I managed
• тебе удалось = you managed
• нам удалось = we managed

This is a very common Russian pattern. Even though English uses the subject we, Russian uses the dative: to us it worked out.

Because удалось is being used impersonally.

There is no normal subject like мы here. The idea is more like:

• It turned out successfully for us
• We managed

That is why the neuter singular past form удалось is used.

This is common with certain Russian expressions:

• мне повезло = I was lucky
• нам удалось = we managed
• ей не хотелось = she didn’t feel like it

Because the sentence talks about successful completed actions.

• купить = to buy (successfully, completed)
• зайти = to drop in / stop by / go in

After удалось, perfective infinitives are very common when the point is that something was accomplished.

If you used imperfective forms here, it would sound less like completed achievements.

So the sentence emphasizes that they managed:

1. to buy the gift
2. to stop by the pharmacy

Literally, yes: to go into the pharmacy.

But in context, зайти в аптеку usually means to stop by the pharmacy or to pop into the pharmacy.

The verb зайти often has the nuance of dropping in somewhere briefly.

So:

• зайти в аптеку = stop by the pharmacy
• зайти в магазин = stop by the store

It is often more natural than a plain verb like войти, which focuses more literally on entering.

This is a common Russian pattern: и ..., и ..., meaning both ... and ...

So:

• нам удалось и купить подарок, и зайти в аптеку = we managed both to buy a gift and to stop by the pharmacy

Russian often repeats и in this structure for emphasis and balance.

You could compare:

• и мама, и папа = both mom and dad
• и читать, и писать = both read and write

Yes, but it would sound a little different.

For example:

• нам удалось купить подарок и зайти в аптеку

This is also correct and natural.

But и купить подарок, и зайти в аптеку gives a clearer both this and that feeling. It emphasizes that they were able to do multiple useful things on the same trip.

Подарок is in the accusative singular, and for an inanimate masculine noun like this, the accusative looks the same as the nominative.

• nominative: подарок
• accusative: подарок

It is the direct object of купить:

• купить что? → подарок

If it were animate masculine, the accusative would usually look like the genitive instead.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and you could move it for emphasis.

For example:

• Мы не впустую поехали в центр
• В центр мы поехали не впустую

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis shifts slightly.

The original:

• Мы поехали в центр не впустую

sounds very natural and neutral.

Usually yes, but in natural English it often means downtown or the city center, depending on context.

So в центр could be:

• to the center
• to the city center
• downtown

Russian центр is often used in everyday speech for the central part of town.

It is neutral and very natural. It works well in normal spoken or written Russian.

Some parts are especially common in everyday language:

• поехали в центр
• зайти в аптеку
• нам удалось

And не впустую is also natural, though slightly more expressive than a very plain phrasing like не зря.

Yes, and that would be very natural:

• Мы поехали в центр не зря

This means We didn’t go to the center for nothing / It was worth going to the center.

The difference is subtle:

• не зря = not for nothing, not in vain
• не впустую = not uselessly, not to no purpose

Both fit here, but не впустую slightly highlights the practical usefulness of the trip.