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Questions & Answers about Я купил билет на самолёт.
What is the grammatical role of на самолёт in this sentence?
It functions as a prepositional phrase that specifies the ticket’s purpose—that is, the ticket is intended for airplane travel. The preposition на combined with самолёт in the accusative case points to the mode of transportation.
Why is the verb form купил used, and what does it indicate about the subject?
Купил is the masculine past tense, perfective form of the verb купить (to buy). Its usage shows that the buying event is complete, and the masculine ending tells us that the speaker is male. If a female speaker were using the sentence, she would say купила.
Why is there no article before билет in this sentence?
Russian does not have articles like a or the. The noun билет stands alone, and its meaning (either generic or specific) is inferred from the context without requiring an article.
What case is билет in, and how can we tell?
Билет is in the accusative case because it serves as the direct object of the transitive verb купил. In Russian, the object of an action is marked in the accusative.
Why is the preposition на used with самолёт instead of another preposition like в?
In Russian, when referring to transportation tickets, на is the standard preposition used (as in билет на автобус or билет на поезд). Using на correctly indicates that the ticket is for airplane travel, whereas в would not fit the conventional expression.