Breakdown of Тарелки стоят на верхней полке в шкафу.
в
in
стоять
to stand
на
on
тарелка
the plate
полка
the shelf
верхний
top
шкаф
the cabinet
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Questions & Answers about Тарелки стоят на верхней полке в шкафу.
What case is тарелки in, and how do I know it’s the plural subject of the sentence?
тарелки is the nominative plural of тарелка (“plate”). You can tell it’s plural because the verb стоят is in the third-person plural form. In Russian, the subject of a sentence takes the nominative case, so тарелки agrees with стоят.
How do I distinguish тарелки as nominative plural from тарелки as genitive singular?
They look identical in writing, but context and verb agreement clarify it. As the subject preceding the verb стоят, тарелки must be nominative plural. If it were genitive singular, the sentence structure and verb form would be different (e.g., “нет тарелки”).
Why is стоят used here instead of лежат?
Russian uses different verbs of location depending on how objects rest:
- стоять (“to stand”) for things upright
- лежать (“to lie”) for things flat
Plates in a rack or on their edges are standing, so you use стоят.
Why does верхняя полка become верхней полке after на, and what case is that?
When на indicates a static location (“on”), it requires the prepositional case. For feminine nouns like полка, the noun ending becomes -е (полке) and the adjective верхняя changes to верхней.
Why is it в шкафу and not в шкафе?
Some masculine nouns have a special locative (second prepositional) ending -у instead of the regular prepositional -е when used with в for location. Both в шкафе and в шкафу are correct, but в шкафу is more common in everyday speech.
Can I also say в шкафе? Would it change the meaning?
Yes, в шкафе is perfectly correct and means the same thing. You won’t confuse anyone by using it, although в шкафу is the traditional colloquial form.
Why are there two prepositions, на and в, in the sentence?
They describe two levels of location: plates are on the shelf (на полке), and that shelf is in the cabinet (в шкафу). This nested structure matches English: “on the top shelf in the cupboard.”
Where are the stress marks in тарелки, верхней, and шкафу?
The stresses fall on these syllables: та-РЁЛ-ки, верх-НЕЙ, ШКАФ-у.