Word
Машины не доезжают до долины.
Meaning
Cars don't go as far as the valley.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Машины не доезжают до долины.
Why is до used twice here, once on the verb and once as a separate word?
It is very common in Russian to pair a prefixed verb of motion with its matching preposition to reinforce the meaning. Here, the prefix до- (reaching a limit or destination) on доезжают pairs with the preposition до ("up to" or "as far as") to show exactly what boundary the cars are failing to reach.
Why is the word for valley (долина) spelled долины here?
The preposition до always requires the genitive case. Since the dictionary form is the feminine noun долина, its "-а" ending changes to "-ы" to form the genitive singular.
Why use the imperfective verb доезжают instead of a perfective form like доедут?
We use the imperfective here because this is a general statement of fact or a recurring situation: cars in general do not go as far as the valley. If you were talking about a specific group of cars failing to reach the valley on a single, specific trip, you would use the perfective.
Could I use доходят instead of доезжают?
No. доходят comes from the base verb ходить (to go by foot), whereas доезжают comes from ездить (to go by vehicle). Since cars travel on wheels, you must use a driving/riding verb, even though in English we just say they "don't go" there.