Я сушу одежду на балконе.

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Breakdown of Я сушу одежду на балконе.

• на: on
• балкон: the balcony
• одежда: the clothes

Questions & Answers about Я сушу одежду на балконе.

Why is одежду in the accusative case and not in some other case?

Because одежду is the direct object of the verb сушу (“I dry”). In Russian, the direct object of a transitive verb normally takes the accusative case. The base form is одежда (nominative), and its accusative singular feminine ending -у shows that it’s being acted upon.

Why do we say на балконе (“on the balcony”) and not в балконе?

Russian prepositions for location follow certain rules:

• на
  • prepositional case is used for surfaces or open spaces (e.g. на столе, на улице, на балконе).
• в
  • prepositional case denotes being inside an enclosed space (e.g. в комнате, в шкафу).
    A balcony is treated like an open surface rather than an “inside” space, hence на балконе with the prepositional ending -е.

Is the verb сушу perfective or imperfective, and how does that affect its meaning?