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Questions & Answers about Почему книга лежит на полу?
Why is Почему placed at the beginning of the sentence?
In Russian, interrogative words like Почему (“why”) commonly start the question. The language allows flexible word order, but beginning with the question word makes it clear you’re asking “why.”
Why is книга in the nominative case?
Книга is the subject of the sentence (the thing doing or being something), so it takes the nominative case. In English you’d say “The book lies on the floor” – “the book” is also the subject.
What does лежит mean, and why is it used instead of another verb?
Лежит is the 3rd-person singular present‐tense form of лежать, meaning “to lie” (as in “to be in a lying position”). It describes the state or position of the book. You wouldn’t use стоять (“to stand”) or сидеть (“to sit”) because a book lies flat.
Why isn’t there a question particle like ли in “Почему книга лежит на полу?”
When a question already starts with a question word (как, кто, что, почему, etc.), you do not add ли. The particle ли is used for yes/no questions without a question word (e.g., “Книга ли лежит на полу?” is awkward and rare).
What case is полу, and why does пол change to полу?
На полу uses the prepositional case after the preposition на when talking about location (“on” something). The noun пол (“floor”) is masculine; its prepositional singular form is полу (an irregular ending; many masculine nouns add -е, but пол becomes полу by convention).
Could I say на поле instead of на полу?
No. Поле (with the stress on е) means “field” (like a grassy field). Пол (“floor”) in the prepositional is полу. Mixing them changes the meaning: на поле = “in the field.”
Why are there no articles like “the” or “a” before книга?
Russian doesn’t use articles. Definiteness (the/a) is inferred from context or other words (like demonstratives). Here, you just say книга, and listeners understand if you mean “a book” or “the book” from context.
How do you pronounce Почему correctly?
The stress falls on the last syllable: почему́ [pə-tʃɪ-MU]. Make sure the “o” sounds like a in “about” when unstressed (first two syllables).
Is the word order книга лежит на полу fixed? Could I say лежит книга на полу?
You can say Лежит книга на полу, but it sounds more poetic or emphatic. The neutral, everyday order is Книга лежит на полу (subject–verb–adverbial). Changing the order can shift the emphasis: Лежит first stresses the action, книга first stresses the object.