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Questions & Answers about Трамвай їде до парку.
Why is парку in the genitive case instead of the nominative парк?
The preposition до always takes the genitive case to express movement toward something. Therefore парк (nominative) changes to парку (genitive singular).
What’s the difference between до парку and в парк?
До парку means “up to the park” or “as far as the park,” focusing on reaching its boundary (genitive after до). В парк means “into the park,” implying entry inside its area (accusative after в), so the nuance changes.
Why don’t we have “the” or “a” before трамвай?
Ukrainian has no articles (no words for “the” or “a”). Definiteness or indefiniteness is understood from context rather than using separate words.
Why is the verb їде used here, and how does it differ from їздить?
Ukrainian distinguishes two imperfective verbs of motion by vehicle:
- їхати (unidirectional, present їде) for a single, ongoing trip
- їздити (multidirectional/habitual, present їздить) for repeated or back-and-forth travel
Here we have one trip happening now, so we use їде.
Can I say До парку їде трамвай instead? Does that change the meaning?
Yes. Word order in Ukrainian is flexible because cases mark grammatical roles. Placing До парку first adds emphasis to where the tram is going, but the basic meaning remains the same.
What’s the difference between їде (with ї) and іде (with і)? They look almost the same!
They are two different verbs of motion on foot vs. by vehicle:
- їде (from їхати) means “goes by vehicle” and uses ї ([ji] sound).
- іде (from йти) means “goes on foot” and uses і.
So їде fits for a tram, which travels by rail.
How would I ask “Where is the tram going?” using this structure?
Use Куди for “where to” + the verb. You get Куди їде трамвай?, which literally means “Where to is the tram going?”