В наборе три чашки.

in

Breakdown of В наборе три чашки.

• чашка: the cup
• три: three
• набор: the set; collection

Questions & Answers about В наборе три чашки.

Why is наборе not набор?

Because в here means in in the sense of location, and after в Russian normally uses the prepositional case for location.

• Base form: набор
• After в for location: в наборе

So В наборе means in the set.

Compare:

• в наборе = in the set
• в набор = into the set

Why is there no word for is/are?

In Russian, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So instead of saying something literally like In the set there are three cups, Russian very naturally just says:

• В наборе три чашки.

This is one of the most common sentence patterns in Russian.

Why is it три чашки, not три чашка?

After the numerals 2, 3, 4, Russian uses a special noun form. For чашка, that form is чашки.

So you get:

• одна чашка = one cup
• три чашки = three cups
• пять чашек = five cups

This is a very important number pattern in Russian:

• 1 → singular
• 2, 3, 4 → the чашки form
• 5+ → the чашек form