Questions & Answers about В комоде в нижнем ящике лежат носки и брюки.
Why are носки and брюки in the nominative case instead of the accusative?
Because лежать is an intransitive verb (“to lie, to be located”), and its “objects” are actually subjects in Russian grammar. Subjects take the nominative case. Also, for inanimate nouns in the plural, nominative and accusative forms coincide, so you see носки and брюки in their nominative-plural forms.
Why does the sentence use the verb лежать (лежат) here instead of стоять, сидеть, or висеть?
In Russian, different verbs of “being” express the orientation or position of objects:
- лежать → lying horizontally (flat in the drawer)
- стоять → standing vertically
- сидеть → sitting upright (mostly for people or animals)
- висеть → hanging
Since socks and trousers lie flat in the drawer, лежать is the correct choice.
Why are there two prepositional phrases (в комоде and в нижнем ящике) one after the other?
They form a nested description of location:
- в комоде tells you the larger container (the dresser)
- в нижнем ящике zooms in on the specific part (the bottom drawer)
Both use the prepositional case with в- location to show “where” something is.