Breakdown of Среди деревьев стоит маленькая скамейка.
маленький
small
дерево
the tree
стоять
to stand
скамейка
the bench
среди
among
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Questions & Answers about Среди деревьев стоит маленькая скамейка.
What does the preposition среди mean, and which case does it govern?
среди means among or amid. It always governs the genitive case, so деревья (trees) becomes деревьев in plural genitive.
Why is деревьев in the genitive plural rather than some other case?
Because the preposition среди requires genitive. Also, деревьев is the genitive plural of дерево (neuter noun ending in -о), formed by dropping -о and adding -ьев.
Why is маленькая скамейка in the nominative case?
In this sentence маленькая скамейка is the grammatical subject of the intransitive verb стоит (“stands/is situated”). Subjects are in the nominative case.
Why does the adjective маленькая end with -ая?
Adjectives in Russian agree with their noun in gender, number, and case. Скамейка is feminine singular, nominative, so the correct adjective ending is -ая: маленькая.
Could I use между деревьями instead of среди деревьев? What’s the nuance?
You can say между деревьями, but it usually implies “between” two (or a small number of) distinct trees. среди деревьев suggests “among a group or forest of trees” and feels more natural if the bench is surrounded by many trees.
Why is there no article like “a” or “the” before маленькая скамейка?
Russian has no articles. Indefiniteness or definiteness is understood from context or optional words (e.g., эта скамейка for “this bench”).
Why use стоит (“stands”) for a bench? Could I say лежит or сидит?
стоять (“to stand”) is used for upright objects on legs or supports (chairs, tables, benches).
- лежать (“to lie”) implies something flat on the ground.
- сидеть (“to sit”) applies to people or animals (or sometimes anthropomorphized objects).
Is it OK to reorder the words: маленькая скамейка стоит среди деревьев? Does it change the meaning?
Yes, it’s perfectly correct.
- Среди деревьев стоит маленькая скамейка emphasizes the location first (the bench is amid trees).
- Маленькая скамейка стоит среди деревьев emphasizes the bench itself.
The basic meaning remains the same.
Where is the stress in деревьев and скамейка?
- деревьев: stress on the second syllable – дере́вьев ([dʲɪˈrʲevʲjɵf]).
- скамейка: stress on the second syllable – скаме́йка ([skəˈmʲejkə]).