Breakdown of Трамвай, который сейчас едет в центр, работает без электричества.
сейчас
now
работать
to work
в
in / to (direction)
центр
center
ехать
to go (by vehicle)
трамвай
tram
без
without
который
which / who / that (relative pronoun)
электричество
electricity
Questions & Answers about Трамвай, который сейчас едет в центр, работает без электричества.
Why does the word for "that" (который) end in -ый here?
Который acts like an adjective, so it matches the gender and number of the noun it refers to. Since it refers back to трамвай (a masculine singular noun), it takes the masculine singular ending -ый. It is in the Nominative case because it acts as the subject of the clause (it is the thing doing the going).
Why do we use едет for the tram instead of идёт or ездит?
In Russian, vehicles use transport verbs rather than walking verbs. We use едет (going in one direction at this moment) instead of ездит (going back and forth, or habitually) because the sentence specifies the tram is going to the center сейчас (right now).
Why is the destination в центр instead of в центре?
Because the tram is moving towards a destination. When expressing motion to a place, Russian uses в or на with the Accusative case (the masculine noun центр doesn't change form here). В центре is the Prepositional case, which is used for static location, not direction of motion.
What case is электричества, and why did the ending change?
It is in the Genitive case. The preposition без (without) always requires the Genitive case. The dictionary form is электричество (electricity, a neuter noun), and neuter nouns ending in -о change to -а in the Genitive case.
Why are there commas before который and after центр?
In Russian grammar, relative clauses (the extra part of the sentence starting with который that describes a noun) must always be completely separated from the main sentence by commas.
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