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Questions & Answers about Кровать стоит рядом с окном.
Why is стоит used here instead of лежит, сидит, or висит?
In Russian, static location verbs agree with an object’s typical orientation or function. Use:
- стоять (to stand) for things “set upright” or standard furniture
- лежать (to lie) for objects literally lying on a surface (e.g. a book on a table)
- висеть (to hang) for items suspended (e.g. a picture on the wall)
- сидеть (to sit) for living beings or movable chairs in the sitting position
A кровать is treated as upright furniture in a room, so we say кровать стоит, not лежит.
What case is окном in and why?
Окном is in the instrumental singular. The prepositional phrase рядом с always takes the instrumental. You ask “с чем?” (with what?), so окно → окно́м.
Why do we need с after рядом?
Рядом by itself is just an adverb (“near”). To link it to a noun, Russian uses the construction рядом с + Instrumental. Without с, you can’t indicate which object it’s near.
Could we replace рядом с окном with у окна? Is there a difference?
Yes, you can say Кровать стоит у окна.
- у окна (genitive with у) stresses being right next to the window’s edge.
- рядом с окном (instrumental with рядом с) is a bit more neutral “somewhere close by,” possibly a few centimeters or even a bit farther. In everyday speech they’re often interchangeable.
Why is кровать in the nominative case?
Because кровать is the grammatical subject of the sentence (“the bed”). In Russian, the subject typically appears in the nominative case when you describe where it is or what it’s doing.
Can we change the word order? For example, start with Рядом с окном?
Absolutely. Russian word order is quite flexible. You can front the locative phrase for emphasis:
- Рядом с окном стоит кровать. (Emphasizes “next to the window.”)
- Кровать стоит рядом с окном. (Neutral.)
The meaning stays the same; only the focus shifts.
When describing furniture placement, how do you pick among стоять, лежать, сидеть, and висеть?
Think about how you would “place” it:
- If you ставите (put upright), it then стоит.
- If you кладе́те (lay down), it then ле́жит.
- If you веша́ете (hang up), it then висит.
- If you сажаете (seat someone or something), it then си́дит.
For most furniture (tables, chairs, beds) you “set” them in place, so стоит is your go-to verb.