Гора находится рядом с озером.

with

Breakdown of Гора находится рядом с озером.

• находиться: to be located
• рядом: near
• озеро: the lake

Questions & Answers about Гора находится рядом с озером.

Why is Гора in the nominative case?

Because Гора is the subject of the sentence. In Russian, the thing you’re talking about (what “is located”) stays in the nominative case when you use находится.

What does находится mean and why is it used here?

Находится is the third-person singular of находиться (“to be located” or “to be found”). It’s the standard verb for stating where something is geographically or spatially.

Why do we say рядом с instead of just рядом?

Рядом alone acts like an adverb (“nearby”). To specify what it’s near, you add с plus the instrumental case. So рядом с озером literally “next to (with) the lake.”

Why is озером in the instrumental case?

After с (here meaning “with” in the sense of proximity) Russian requires the instrumental case. Hence озеро → озером.

Can I change the word order?