Learn Hardcore Russian: Напротив дома стоит старая трость, оставленная кем-то. - Opposite the house stands an old cane left by someone.

The preposition напротив always governs the genitive case, so дом becomes дома (genitive singular). Although дома also happens to look like the nominative plural of дом, the presence of напротив forces the genitive. In context, you interpret it as “opposite the house” (one house), not “houses.”

Why is there a comma before оставленная кем-то?

Because оставленная кем-то is a non-restrictive (parenthetical) participial phrase that gives extra information about the трость. In Russian, such additional participles or clauses are set off by commas, much like non-defining relative clauses in English (“…, left by someone”).

Why is оставленная in the feminine nominative singular, and why is кем-то in the instrumental case?

Оставленная is a past passive participle derived from оставить (perfective), and it must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies—here трость (feminine, singular, nominative). The agent in a Russian passive construction (the “someone” who left it) is expressed with an instrumental form, so кто → кем, plus the particle -то for indefiniteness: кем-то.

Why do we use стоит instead of лежит or another verb?

Стоять describes that an object is standing upright or in a vertical position. Лежать would imply it is lying down horizontally. Since a трость naturally stands on its tip or handle, стоит is the correct stative verb.

Can participles like оставленная act as adjectives? What’s the difference?

Participles share some features with adjectives (agreement, ability to modify nouns), but they still carry verbal properties: they have aspect (perfective vs. imperfective), voice (active vs. passive), and can take their own objects or agents. Adjectives, by contrast, describe inherent qualities without referencing an action or process.

Why is there no copula (like есть) in this sentence?

In present-tense Russian, the verb быть (“to be”) is usually omitted. We just say “напротив дома стоит трость” instead of “напротив дома есть трость”. Using есть is possible for emphasis or in very formal/write contexts, but it’s not needed for a simple statement of existence.

What’s the stress pattern in трость, напротив, and старая?

• Трость – one syllable stressed on о: Тро́сть
• Напротив – three syllables stressed on the second о: напро́тив
• Старая – two syllables stressed on the first а: ста́рая

How does напротив differ from перед when saying “in front of”?

Напротив conveys “directly opposite” (on the other side, facing something). Перед simply means “in front of” (closer to the speaker or ahead in space), without the nuance of being on the opposite side. So напротив дома = “across from the house,” while перед домом = “just in front of the house.”