Breakdown of На завтрак я ем мясо с сыром.
я
I
есть
to eat
с
with
на
for
завтрак
the breakfast
мясо
the meat
сыр
the cheese
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Russian grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about На завтрак я ем мясо с сыром.
Why do we use На завтрак with the accusative case to mean “for breakfast” instead of something like Во время завтрака?
In Russian, meals are commonly introduced by на + accusative to mean “for a meal.” So you say на завтрак, на обед, на ужин for “for breakfast,” “for lunch,” “for dinner.” The preposition на here expresses purpose or scheduled time and takes the accusative case. By contrast, во время завтрака literally means “during breakfast,” which is fine if you want to talk about something happening at the same time as breakfast.
Why doesn’t мясо change form in the sentence? Shouldn’t a direct object be in the accusative?
Correct: мясо is the direct object of ем and thus is in the accusative case—but мясо is a neuter noun whose nominative and accusative singular forms are identical. That’s why it looks the same in both cases.
Why is сыр in the form сыром here?
The preposition с meaning “with” always requires the instrumental case. The instrumental singular of сыр is сыром, so you get с сыром for “with cheese.”
Russian has no articles like “a” or “the.” How do I know if мясо or сыр is definite here?
Indeed, Russian doesn’t use articles. Context, word order, or additional words (like этот “this”) convey definiteness. In мясо с сыром, you simply mean “meat with cheese” in a general sense. If you wanted “the cheese,” you could say с этим сыром (“with this cheese”).
Why do we say я ем, instead of just ем? I’ve heard that Russian can drop subject pronouns.
Yes, Russian is a pro-drop language: Ем мясо с сыром is perfectly fine. Adding я (“I”) is optional and can add emphasis or clarity—especially in writing or if you want to stress that you (and not someone else) do the eating.
Can I rearrange the words? For example: Я ем мясо с сыром на завтрак. Would that sound odd?
Russian word order is flexible. Both
• На завтрак я ем мясо с сыром (emphasis on when)
• Я ем мясо с сыром на завтрак (neutral)
are correct. Placing на завтрак first highlights “for breakfast,” while putting it at the end reads as a simple statement.
What’s the difference between есть and кушать? Could I say я кушаю мясо с сыром?
Both verbs mean “to eat.” есть is the neutral, standard verb used by most adults. кушать is slightly more polite or gentle—often used with children or in polite contexts. Saying Я кушаю мясо с сыром is grammatically fine but sounds a bit more bookish or tender than Я ем мясо с сыром.
Where do I put the stress in На завтрак я ем мясо с сыром? How should I pronounce it?
The stresses fall like this:
НА ЗА́Втрак я Е́М МЯ́со с СЫ́ром
Phonetically approximately: [na ˈzavtrək ja ˈjem ˈmʲæsə s sɨˈrom].