Question 1

Wait, the lesson is about nouns ending in -ий taking -ии in the prepositional case. Why does this sentence use в планетарий instead of в планетарии?

Accepted Answer

Because we are expressing motion towards a destination, the preposition в requires the Accusative case here, not the Prepositional. Since планетарий is an inanimate masculine noun, its Accusative form is identical to its Nominative form. You would only use the Prepositional в планетарии to describe a static location, like Мы сейчас в планетарии (We are in the planetarium now).

Question 2

If I wanted to say 'to the biggest building', applying the lesson for nouns ending in -ие, how would that look here?

Accepted Answer

The word for building is здание. Because it is neuter and inanimate, its Accusative form also matches its Nominative form. So you would say в самое большое здание. Just like with планетарий, you only use the special -ии ending for location in the Prepositional case, such as в здании.

Question 3

Why do we use пойдём here instead of будем идти?

Accepted Answer

пойдём is the future perfective form of the verb пойти (to go on foot). We use it because we are talking about a single, completed future trip to a destination. будем идти is imperfective and focuses on the continuous process of walking, which translates more closely to 'we will be walking'.

Question 4

How does the superlative 'the biggest' work grammatically in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

You form this type of superlative by adding самый (the most) before the adjective, so самый большой means 'the biggest'. Both words are in the Accusative inanimate case to match планетарий, which is why they look exactly like their standard dictionary forms here.

Завтра мы пойдём в самый большой планетарий.

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