На борту самолёта указан номер.

the airplane

Breakdown of На борту самолёта указан номер.

• указать: to indicate
• номер: the number
• на: on/at

Questions & Answers about На борту самолёта указан номер.

Why is самолёта in the genitive case, even though the phrase starts with на?

Because на is governing борту, not самолёта.

The structure is:

• на борту = on board
• самолёта = of the airplane

So literally, на борту самолёта means on the board/side of the airplane, which in natural English is simply on board the airplane.

A useful pattern to remember is:

• на борту корабля
• на борту самолёта
• на борту судна

In all of these, the second noun is in the genitive because it depends on борт.

What case is борту, and why does it have that ending?

Борту is the prepositional singular of борт.

The preposition на often takes the prepositional case when it means location:

• на столе
• на улице
• на борту

So:

• dictionary form: борт
• prepositional singular: на борту

This is part of the fixed expression на борту = on board.

What does на борту mean exactly, and is it different from в самолёте?