Breakdown of Моя фотография лежит на столе.
мой
my
стол
the table
на
on
лежать
to lie
фотография
the photograph
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Questions & Answers about Моя фотография лежит на столе.
What part of speech is моя, and why is it моя here?
моя is the feminine singular form of the possessive pronoun мой. It agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun фотография, which is feminine singular in nominative case.
Which case is фотография in, and what role does it play in the sentence?
фотография is in the nominative case because it’s the subject of the sentence—the thing that “lies” on the table.
Why does фотография take feminine agreement, and how do you know it’s feminine?
Most Russian nouns ending in -ия are feminine. You also know it’s feminine because the agreeing words (моя, лежит implicitly takes feminine if it had participles, etc.) match that gender.
What case is used in на столе, and why is it the prepositional case?
столе is in the prepositional case (locative) because we’re indicating location (“where?”). With на meaning “on,” you use the prepositional case for a static location.
When would you use the accusative case instead of the prepositional after на?
Use the accusative case (e.g., на стол) when expressing motion onto something (“put onto the table”). Use the prepositional (e.g., на столе) for no motion, just location.
What does the verb лежит mean, and why is it used here?
лежит is the 3rd person singular present tense of the intransitive verb лежать (“to lie flat”). It’s used because the photo is lying flat on the table.
What’s the difference between лежать, стоять, and висеть?
They describe static positions:
- лежать – to lie flat
- стоять – to stand upright
- висеть – to hang
You pick the verb based on the object’s orientation.
Is the word order Моя фотография лежит на столе the only way to say this?
No. Russian word order is flexible. You could say:
- На столе лежит моя фотография (emphasis on location)
- Фотография моя лежит на столе (emphasis on possession)
The core meaning stays the same.
Could you use моё фото instead of моя фотография?
Yes. фото (short for фотография) is neuter, so you’d say моё фото. That’s a more colloquial way to refer to “my photo.”
Where is the stress in фотография, and how do you pronounce it?
The stress falls on the third syllable: фотоГРафия (fo-to-GRA-fi-ya).