Breakdown of Мой муж едет на вокзал без чемодана.
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
ехать
to go (by vehicle)
вокзал
train station
муж
husband
чемодан
suitcase
без
without
Questions & Answers about Мой муж едет на вокзал без чемодана.
Why does the word for suitcase change to чемодана?
It follows the preposition без (without), which always requires the Genitive case. Because чемодан is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, you add -а to make it Genitive singular.
Why do we use едет here instead of another verb of motion like идёт or ездит?
We use едет because he is traveling by transport, not on foot (идёт). Also, едет is a one-way (uni-directional) verb, meaning he is making a single trip to the station right now. If he went to the station regularly, you would use the multi-directional verb ездит.
Why is it на вокзал instead of в вокзал for "to the station"?
In Russian, certain places traditionally take the preposition на instead of в to mean "in" or "to". Вокзал (train station) is one of these common exceptions. You will always use на вокзал for "to the station" and на вокзале for "at the station".
Is вокзал in the Nominative case here since it hasn't changed its ending?
No, it is actually in the Accusative case because it shows the destination of his movement. However, for inanimate masculine nouns like вокзал (things that are not alive), the Accusative form looks exactly the same as the Nominative dictionary form.
Learn Мой муж едет на вокзал без чемодана and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free