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Questions & Answers about На диване лежит подушка.
Why is there no article before диване, like the or a?
Russian doesn’t have articles. Definiteness and indefiniteness are understood from context or other words (e.g. этот “this”). So на диване simply means “on the sofa” without needing the or a.
What case is диване in, and why is that case used with на?
Диване is in the prepositional case (often used to indicate location). After на meaning “on,” you ask “где?” (“where?”) and answer with the prepositional. You form it by adding -е to диван (диван → диване).
Why is подушка in the nominative case?
Подушка is the grammatical subject (the thing that lies). In Russian, subjects are in the nominative case, so подушка stays in its base form.
Why does the verb лежит come before the subject подушка in this sentence?
Russian word order is flexible. Putting the verb first with the subject after creates an existential or locative emphasis—similar to “There is a pillow on the sofa” in English. It focuses more on the existence or location than on the pillow itself.
Why is лежит used here instead of a form of быть (“to be”)?
Russian uses special verbs of position—лежать (to lie), стоять (to stand), сидеть (to sit)—to describe where something is. Modern Russian rarely uses быть in the present tense for location, so you say лежит to show that the pillow is lying flat.
Could I use находится instead of лежит in this sentence?
Yes. You could say На диване находится подушка. Находиться means “to be located,” which is more neutral and doesn’t specify orientation, whereas лежит tells you it’s lying down.
What’s the difference between На диване лежит подушка and Подушка лежит на диване?
Both translate as “A pillow is lying on the sofa,” but the first (verb→subject) highlights the location/existence; the second (subject→verb→adverbial) simply states the fact in a more neutral way.
Where is the stress in диване and подушка?
In диване, the stress is on the second syllable: diVÁ-ne. In подушка, the stress is on the first syllable: PÓ-du-shka.