Breakdown of Мы едем на такси.
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
ехать
to go (by vehicle)
такси
taxi
Questions & Answers about Мы едем на такси.
Why do we use едем instead of идём for 'are going'?
In Russian, verbs of motion are very specific. The verb идти (we are going: мы идём) is strictly used for going on foot. Since a taxi is a vehicle, you must use the verb for going by transport, which is ехать (we are going: мы едем).
Why is the preposition на used here instead of saying 'by' in another way?
When talking about your mode of transportation in Russian, the standard rule is to use the preposition на followed by the Prepositional case. While in English you say 'by taxi', Russian essentially says 'on taxi' (на такси).
If на requires the Prepositional case, why doesn't the ending of такси change?
Most nouns change their endings in the Prepositional case (for example, автобус becomes на автобусе). However, такси is a foreign borrowed word ending in a vowel. These types of words are usually 'indeclinable', meaning they keep the exact same form in every single grammatical case.
How does this sentence compare to using the Dative preposition к from this lesson?
The preposition на here shows your method of transport. If you used the Dative preposition к from this lesson (мы идём к такси), the meaning changes completely to 'we are walking towards the taxi' rather than riding inside it.
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