Learn Hardcore Russian: В подвале дома хранятся старые книги.

The sentence begins with a locative phrase—В подвале дома—which tells us the location ("in the basement of the house"). It is followed by the reflexive verb хранятся ("are stored") and then the subject старые книги ("old books"). This arrangement emphasizes where the action is taking place before introducing what is being stored.

Why is the noun подвал presented as подвале in this sentence?

The noun подвал appears in the form подвале because it is in the prepositional case. When the preposition в indicates a static location ("in"), it requires the following noun to be in the prepositional case. The ending -е is a typical ending for masculine singular nouns like подвал in this case.

Why is дома used in the genitive case instead of another case?

The word дома is in the genitive case because it forms a possessive relationship within the compound noun phrase подвал дома, meaning "the basement of the house." In Russian, possession or attribution (indicating that the basement belongs to the house) is commonly expressed using the genitive case.

What does the reflexive verb хранятся indicate, and why is the reflexive form used here?

The verb хранятся is the reflexive form of хранить, meaning "are stored" or "are kept." The reflexive form is used to express that the subject (старые книги) is in a state or condition (being stored) without explicitly naming an agent who stores them. Although it can be translated into English using a passive structure, in Russian it is simply a reflexive construction.

How is adjective-noun agreement demonstrated in the phrase старые книги?

In старые книги, the adjective старые is in the nominative plural form, matching the noun книги (which is also plural). This shows proper agreement in gender, number, and case—a key grammatical rule in Russian where adjectives must agree with the nouns they modify.

Is the construction with хранятся a true passive form, and how does it compare to the English passive voice?

Although хранятся translates to "are stored," which resembles an English passive construction, it is technically a reflexive form in Russian. Russian often uses reflexive verbs to convey actions or states that in English would be rendered in the passive voice. This construction focuses on the state of the subject rather than emphasizing the action performed by an agent.