Мобильный телефон лежит на столе.

The mobile phone is lying on the table.

Breakdown of Мобильный телефон лежит на столе.

• телефон: the phone
• стол: the table
• на: on
• лежать: to lie
• мобильный: mobile

Questions & Answers about Мобильный телефон лежит на столе.

Why isn’t there an article (like “the” or “a”) before мобильный телефон?

Russian does not use definite or indefinite articles at all. Nouns stand on their own, and context or word order tells you whether something is specific or general.

What case is столе in, and why?

столе is in the prepositional case. After the preposition на (meaning “on” when indicating location), you use the prepositional case to say “on the table.”

Why is the adjective мобильный placed before the noun телефон? Could it come after?

Standard Russian word order puts adjectives before nouns: мобильный телефон (“mobile phone”). You can reverse it for poetic effect or emphasis—телефон мобильный would sound unusual and might stress that it’s the phone that’s mobile rather than, say, cordless—but it’s not the neutral word order.

What does the verb лежит mean here, and why do we use лежать for an object?

лежит is the 3rd person singular present of лежать, “to lie” (i.e. to be lying down). In Russian, stationary objects that lie flat use лежать. If something stood upright you’d use стоять, and if it were seated or perched you’d use сидеть.

What tense and aspect is лежит?

лежит is present tense, imperfective aspect. Imperfective verbs describe ongoing or habitual states—here the phone is in the state of lying on the table.

Can I omit мобильный and just say Телефон лежит на столе?

Yes. Телефон лежит на столе means “The phone is lying on the table.” You only need мобильный if you want to specify that it’s a mobile phone rather than, say, a desk phone.

Could I move на столе to the front?

Yes. На столе лежит мобильный телефон emphasizes the location (“On the table there is a mobile phone”). In Russian, moving the adverbial phrase to the front often shifts the focus onto that information.

Why do we use на instead of в for “on the table”?

на = “on” or “onto” when something is on a surface. в = “in” or “into” when something is inside an enclosed space. Since the phone is on top of the table, you must use на столе.

What does the ending -ный in мобильный tell me?

The ending -ный is one of several adjective endings in Russian. Here it marks мобильный as a masculine singular adjective in the nominative case, agreeing with телефон (a masculine noun).