В магазине я купил пару носков.

I bought a pair of socks at the store.

Breakdown of В магазине я купил пару носков.

• я: I
• в: in
• магазин: the store
• купить: to buy
• носок: the sock
• пара: the pair

Questions & Answers about В магазине я купил пару носков.

Why is магазине in the prepositional case, not the accusative?

In Russian, the preposition в can require two different cases:

• Prepositional (locative) when you indicate being “inside” or “at” a place.
• Accusative when you indicate movement “into” a place.
  Here, в магазине means “in the store” (location), so you use the prepositional case.

Why is пару used instead of пара?

Пара is the dictionary (nominative) form. When you make it a direct object in the sentence, you need the accusative case. Since пара is a feminine noun ending in -а, its accusative singular form is пару.

Why is носков in the genitive plural, not the accusative?

The structure пара X (“a pair of X”) always takes X in the genitive. Even though носки (socks) in the accusative plural would look the same as the nominative plural (носки), here you need the genitive plural носков to express “of socks.”

Why does the past‐tense verb appear as купил and not купила?

In Russian past tense, verbs agree with the speaker’s gender:

• A male speaker says купил.
• A female speaker would say купила.
  So купил tells you the speaker is male (or is speaking on behalf of a male).

Is the subject pronoun я necessary in this sentence?

No, it isn’t strictly necessary. Russian is a pro-drop language, so you could simply say В магазине купил пару носков.
Including я adds emphasis or clarity (especially in longer contexts), but you can omit it if the subject is understood.

Why is the word order В магазине я купил пару носков and not the usual SVO order?

Russian word order is relatively flexible. Placing в магазине first emphasizes the location (“In the store …”). You could also say Я купил пару носков в магазине, which is equally correct but stresses the subject я or the act of buying.

What’s the difference between saying пару носков and два носка?

• Пару носков literally means “a pair of socks” – typically two matching socks sold together.
• Два носка means “two socks” (just any two, not necessarily a matched pair).
  Use пару носков if you want a standard matching set.

Where is the stress in пару носков?

• пару: stress on the first syllable, ПА-ру.
• носков: stress on the second syllable, носКОВ.
  So you say ПАру носкОв.