Breakdown of Я хочу встретить моего старого друга на вокзале.
я
I
друг
friend
старый
old
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
хотеть
to want
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
вокзал
train station
встретить
to meet (pf)
Questions & Answers about Я хочу встретить моего старого друга на вокзале.
Why do we say моего старого друга instead of мой старый друг?
Because it is the direct object of the verb встретить, so it must be in the Accusative case. For masculine living beings (animate objects), the Accusative endings are identical to the Genitive endings. That is why мой старый друг changes to моего старого друга.
This lesson is about arriving. How does this sentence fit in if it doesn't use a verb like приехать?
Going to the station to meet someone is the natural result of them arriving! If your friend is arriving by train, you would say Мой друг приезжает (My friend is arriving). The verb встретить (to meet) is the standard way to say you are picking someone up after they arrive.
Why use the perfective verb встретить instead of the imperfective встречать?
You are talking about one specific, completed event: meeting your friend this one time. If you used the imperfective встречать, it would sound like you want to make a habit of meeting him at the station regularly.
Why does the sentence use на вокзале instead of в вокзале to mean 'at the station'?
The word вокзал (train station) is one of those special Russian location words that always pairs with the preposition на instead of в, just like на почте (at the post office) or на работе (at work). Because it is the location where the meeting happens, it is in the Prepositional case.
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