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Questions & Answers about Мои наушники лежат на столе.
Why is the noun наушники plural, and why does the verb appear as лежат?
- Наушники is a plural-only noun (like English “glasses”), used for a single pair of headphones.
- Because the subject is grammatically plural, the verb must be 3rd-person plural: лежат.
- If you mean one earpiece, you can say singular наушник (e.g., Правый наушник сломан).
Why is it мои and not мой?
- Мои is the plural form of “my,” agreeing with plural наушники.
- Paradigm: мой (masc. sg.), моя (fem. sg.), моё (neut. sg.), мои (plural).
- Stress: мои́ (mo-EE).
What is the infinitive of лежат, and how do you conjugate it?
- Infinitive: лежать “to lie (be lying).”
- Present tense (stress marked):
- я лежу́
- ты лежи́шь
- он/она лежи́т
- мы лежи́м
- вы лежи́те
- они лежа́т
Why use лежат and not стоят, висят, or находятся?
- лежат: the item is lying flat on a surface (most natural for headphones on a table).
- стоят: the item is standing upright (e.g., a bottle).
- висят: the item is hanging (e.g., on a hook).
- находятся: neutral “are located,” more formal/impersonal; less natural in casual speech here.
Why is it на столе and not на стол?
- На
- location (where?) → Prepositional: на столе “on the table.”
- На
- direction (onto where?) → Accusative: на стол “onto the table.”
- Compare: Наушники лежат на столе. vs Положи наушники на стол.
What case is столе, and how is it formed?
- Столе is Prepositional singular of стол: add -е → на столе.
- This form answers “where?”
Is на столу ever correct?
- На столу is archaic/poetic or dialectal. In standard modern Russian, say на столе.
Can I change the word order, e.g., На столе лежат мои наушники?
- Yes. Both orders are correct.
- Starting with На столе emphasizes the location. The neutral meaning stays the same.
Can I drop the verb and say На столе мои наушники?
- Yes, it’s grammatical and common. It states identification/existence (“On the table are my headphones”) without describing posture.
- With лежат, you explicitly convey “lying.”
Can I omit мои?
- Yes: Наушники лежат на столе = “Headphones are on the table.”
- Without мои, whether they’re “the/my/some” headphones is resolved by context (Russian has no articles).
How do I say “I put the headphones on the table” and “I took the headphones from the table”?
- Put onto (motion to): Я положил(а) наушники на стол. (Accusative after на.)
- Took from (motion from): Я взял(а) наушники со стола. (Genitive after с(о).)
Do I need a form of “to be” here, like English “are”?
- No. Russian normally omits “to be” in the present.
- If you use есть (e.g., На столе есть наушники), it stresses existence (“there exist headphones on the table”), not posture.
How do I pronounce the sentence and where is the stress?
- Мои́ (ma-EE), нау́шники (na-OOSH-nee-kee), лежа́т (le-ZHAT), на (na), столе́ (sta-LEH).
- Full line: ma-EE na-OOSH-nee-kee le-ZHAT na sta-LEH.
If the headphones are on a hook or stand, do I still use лежат?
- On a hook: usually висят (they’re hanging).
- On a stand: depends on orientation. If they hang from the stand, висят; if they rest flat on a base, лежат.
- Стоят is uncommon for headphones unless they’re clearly upright with a base.
How do I say “I’m wearing headphones”?
- Я в нау́шниках. (Prepositional plural after в; idiomatic for wearing.)
- Я с нау́шниками means “I have headphones with me,” not necessarily on my head.
Does наушники also cover earbuds and headsets?
- Yes. Наушники is the general word for headphones/earphones (over-ear, on-ear, earbuds).
- A headset with a mic is often гарниту́ра. Earbuds can be called вкла́дыши or внутриканальные нау́шники.
What are the parts of speech and cases in the sentence?
- Мои́: possessive pronoun, nominative plural (agrees with the subject).
- нау́шники: noun, nominative plural (subject).
- лежа́т: verb, 3rd person plural, present, imperfective.
- на: preposition (location).
- столе́: noun, prepositional singular (object of the preposition).