Она сидит в библиотеке.

She is sitting in the library.

Breakdown of Она сидит в библиотеке.

• сидеть: to sit
• в: in
• библиотека: the library
• она: she

Questions & Answers about Она сидит в библиотеке.

What does the Она in the sentence represent?

Она is the third person singular feminine pronoun in Russian. It translates to “she” in English and indicates that the subject of the sentence is female.

How is the verb сидит formed, and what does it tell us about the subject?

Сидит is the third person singular form of the verb сидеть (to sit) in the present tense. This conjugation shows that the action (sitting) is being performed by a single subject, which in this sentence is она (she).

Why is the preposition в used before библиотеке, and what does it imply?

The preposition в means “in” and is used to indicate location. In this sentence, it tells us where the action is taking place—specifically, that she is situated inside an enclosed space. In Russian, when в is used to denote location, the following noun must be in the prepositional case, which is why библиотеке is used.

What case is the noun библиотеке in, and why is that case appropriate here?

Библиотеке is in the prepositional case. This case is employed with prepositions like в to describe static locations. The prepositional case answers the question “where?”—in this instance, in the library—and it follows specific declension patterns for feminine nouns.

Is the word order in Она сидит в библиотеке. fixed, or can it be altered for emphasis?

Russian has a relatively flexible word order. While Она сидит в библиотеке. is a neutral and common word order, rearranging the sentence can add emphasis to different parts. For example, placing в библиотеке at the beginning could highlight the location. However, regardless of the order, the core meaning remains the same due to the clear grammatical markers (such as the case endings).

What aspect does the verb сидит express, and why is that significant in Russian?

The verb сидит is in the imperfective aspect, which is used to indicate actions that are ongoing or habitual. This aspect is significant because it communicates that the action is currently in progress (she is sitting) rather than being a completed event.