Breakdown of Трамвай там, на улице.
там
there
улица
street
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
трамвай
tram
Questions & Answers about Трамвай там, на улице.
Where is the word for 'is' in this sentence?
In Russian, the verb 'to be' is almost always left out in the present tense. So, instead of saying 'The tram is there', you simply say Трамвай там (Tram there).
Why does the word for street, улица, change to улице here?
Because it comes after the preposition на (on) to describe where something is located. This means it needs to be in the Prepositional case. For most feminine words ending in -a like улица, you drop the -a and add an -e.
Why do we use на (on) instead of в (in) with the street?
In Russian, you use на with улица to mean 'on the street' or 'outside'. Russian treats a street as an open surface, so it uses на (on) rather than в (in or inside).
Can I use там to say 'There is a tram on the street' like in English?
No, там specifically refers to a location (over there). If you just want to state that a tram exists on the street (There is a tram...), Russian usually does this by putting the location first without using там, like this: На улице трамвай.
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