Word
Собака часто бегает вдоль забора.
Meaning
The dog often runs along the fence.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Собака часто бегает вдоль забора.
собака
dog
часто
often
бегать
to run (multidirectional)
забор
fence
Questions & Answers about Собака часто бегает вдоль забора.
Why do we use бегает instead of бежит here?
бегает is the multidirectional verb for "to run." We use it in this sentence for two reasons: the word часто (often) tells us this is a repeated, habitual action, and running "along a fence" implies moving back and forth rather than heading in one single, focused direction. If the dog were running past the fence right now on its way to a specific destination, we would use the unidirectional бежит.
Why does бегает end in -ет when бежит ends in -ит?
Even though they are a pair, they follow different conjugation patterns. бегать (multidirectional) is a standard First Conjugation verb, so it takes the normal -ет ending for the "he/she/it" form. бежать (unidirectional), however, is an irregular verb that mostly uses Second Conjugation endings, which is why it becomes бежит.
Why is the word for fence in the genitive case (забора)?
The preposition вдоль (along) always requires the following noun to be in the genitive case. Because забор (fence) is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, it takes the -а ending in the genitive to become забора.
Could I use the preposition по to mean "along" in this sentence?