Breakdown of Мы заехали на заправку, а потом в химчистку.
а
and (contrastive)
мы
we
в
in / to (direction)
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
Questions & Answers about Мы заехали на заправку, а потом в химчистку.
The lesson is about заходить/зайти. Why does this sentence use заехали instead?
The prefix за- means 'dropping in' or 'deviating from your route'. While зайти is used for dropping in on foot, going to a gas station implies you are driving. Therefore, we attach the prefix to the 'go by vehicle' root to get the perfective past-tense verb заехали.
Why do we use на before заправку but в before химчистку?
Both indicate your destination, but they pair with different prepositions. A gas station (заправка) is treated as an open area or territory in Russian, so it takes на. A dry cleaner (химчистка) is an enclosed business or shop, so it takes в.
What case are заправку and химчистку in, and why?
They are in the Accusative case. When verbs of motion describe a destination (answering 'where to?'), Russian uses в or на + the Accusative case. The feminine dictionary forms заправка and химчистка change their ending from -а to -у.
Is it grammatically okay that there is no verb before в химчистку?
Yes! Just like in English, Russian naturally drops the repeated verb (заехали) before the second destination to avoid sounding repetitive. The action of 'dropping in by vehicle' simply carries over to the dry cleaner.