When you are on a road trip and driving past landmarks without stopping, use the preposition мимо (past, by) paired with a verb of motion like проезжать (to drive past). Мимо always requires the Genitive case.
For masculine nouns ending in a consonant, form the Genitive by adding -а (like дом → дома).
| A big truck is driving past the house. | Большой грузовик проезжает мимо дома. |
As you travel, you can use the verb мелькать to describe the scenery "flashing by" as you drive.
| Landscapes flash by when we drive past the sign. | Пейзажи мелькают, когда мы проезжаем мимо указателя. |
Describing Landmarks
When you add an adjective to describe the location you are passing, it must also take the Genitive case.
- Masculine and neuter adjectives take the ending -ого or -его (the г is pronounced like a в).
- Neuter nouns ending in -о change to -а (like озеро → озера).
| We are driving past a beautiful lake. | Мы проезжаем мимо красивого озера. |
Completed Trips
If you have successfully driven past a location, use the perfective verb проехать.
For feminine nouns ending in -а, the Genitive ending is -ы or -и (like машина → машины). The feminine pronoun чья (whose) becomes чьей.
| Whose car did we drive past? | Мимо чьей машины мы проехали? |
Passing by People
You can also use мимо when moving past people. Personal pronouns change in the Genitive case; for example, мы (we) becomes нас (us).
Inside the car, the driver sits behind the steering wheel (руль) on the seat (сиденье).
| The driver sits on the seat behind the steering wheel and drives past us. | Водитель сидит на сиденье за рулём и проезжает мимо нас. |