Word
Между двумя домами протекает маленькая река.
Meaning
A small river flows between the two houses.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Между двумя домами протекает маленькая река.
дом
the house
маленький
small
река
the river
два
two
Questions & Answers about Между двумя домами протекает маленькая река.
Why is между followed by двумя домами in the instrumental case rather than the genitive?
The preposition между (between) always governs the instrumental case when indicating a position or movement between things. Thus два дома (two houses) becomes двумя домами in the instrumental plural.
How do cardinal numbers like два change when you use cases in Russian?
Cardinal numbers decline according to case. For example:
- Nominative: два дома
- Genitive: двух домов
- Instrumental: двумя домами
In our sentence, we need the instrumental, so два → двумя, and дома → домами.
Why can’t we say между двух домов here?
Some prepositions take genitive (e.g. у, из), but между requires the instrumental. Genitive plural двух домов would be used with different prepositions, not with между.
Why is маленькая река in the nominative case?