Breakdown of Студент идёт в университет.
студент
student (m)
в
in / to (direction)
университет
university
идти
to go (on foot) / to proceed, go (of a process)
Questions & Answers about Студент идёт в университет.
Why use идёт here instead of едет?
The verb идти (and its "he/she/it" form идёт) specifically means going on foot. You use ехать (and its form едет) when someone is going by transport, like a bus or car. Since the student is walking, we use идёт.
Why is this translated as "is walking" instead of just "walks"?
Идёт is a "unidirectional" verb of motion. This means it describes a specific, one-way trip happening right in this moment. In English, this continuous action is usually expressed with "is walking" or "is going", rather than a general habit like "walks".
We learned about using на for transport in this lesson. Why does this sentence use в?
The rule you learned (на + Prepositional case) is used for the vehicle you are traveling in (like на автобусе for "by bus"). The university is the destination you are going to, not the vehicle. To say where you are going, you use в (to/into) or на (to/onto) plus the Accusative case.
Why doesn't the word университет change its ending after в to show it is the destination?
It actually has changed to the Accusative case, but you can't tell! Because университет is a masculine inanimate noun (a non-living thing), its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary form. If the student were going to a pharmacy (аптека, a feminine noun), you would see the ending change: Студент идёт в аптеку.
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