В супермаркете продаются свежие ягоды.

Fresh berries are sold in the supermarket.

Breakdown of В супермаркете продаются свежие ягоды.

• в: in
• свежий: fresh
• ягода: the berry
• супермаркет: the supermarket
• продаваться: to be sold

Questions & Answers about В супермаркете продаются свежие ягоды.

Why is it в супермаркете and not в супермаркет?

In Russian, the preposition в takes different cases depending on the meaning:

• Accusative: motion to somewhere
  
  • в супермаркет = into the supermarket (movement)
• Prepositional: location in/at somewhere
  
  • в супермаркете = in the supermarket (no movement)

Your sentence describes where the berries are being sold (location, not movement), so you must use the prepositional case: в супермаркете.

What case is супермаркете, and how do we know?

Супермаркете is in the prepositional case, singular.

Clues:

• It follows the preposition в with a static location meaning (in, at).
• Супермаркет is a masculine noun ending in a consonant; its prepositional ending is -е:
  • супермаркет (nominative) → в супермаркете (prepositional)

So the pattern is:
супермаркет → о супермаркете, в супермаркете, на супермаркете (depending on the preposition).

Why does the verb продаются end in -ся? What does that mean?

The -ся ending makes the verb reflexive or medio-passive. Here it gives a passive-like meaning: are sold.

• Base verb: продавать = to sell
• Reflexive form: продаваться = to be sold (literally, to sell oneself)

In the sentence:

• продаются = are sold

Russian very often uses these -ся forms instead of a full passive with быть + past participle. So:

• В супермаркете продаются свежие ягоды.
  = Fresh berries are sold in the supermarket.

Why is it продаются and not продаётся?

The verb must agree in number with its grammatical subject.

• Subject: ягоды = berries → plural
• Therefore the verb is 3rd person plural present:
  • они продаются → they are sold

If the subject were singular, you’d use продаётся:

• В супермаркете продаётся хлеб.
  Bread is sold in the supermarket.

What exactly is the grammatical subject of the sentence?

The subject is ягоды (berries).

Even though English uses a passive structure (Fresh berries are sold…), in Russian the verb продаются still agrees with the subject ягоды in number (plural). The structure is:

• В супермаркете – adverbial phrase of place (in the supermarket)
• продаются – verb (are sold)
• свежие ягоды – subject phrase (adjective + noun, fresh berries)

Word order in Russian is flexible, but grammatically ягоды is the subject.

Why is it ягоды and not ягода or ягод?

You see ягоды because it is:

• Nominative plural of ягода (berry)

Forms:

• ягода – nominative singular (a berry)
• ягоды – nominative plural (berries), and also genitive singular
• ягод – genitive plural (of berries)

Here, ягоды is the subject of the sentence, so nominative plural is required:
ягоды продаются = berries are sold.

What form is свежие, and why does it end in -ие?

Свежие is an adjective meaning fresh in the nominative plural form, modifying ягоды.

• свежий – masculine singular
• свежая – feminine singular
• свежее – neuter singular
• свежие – plural (for all genders in nominative)

It ends in -ие because of a spelling rule: after the consonants ж, ш, щ, ч, you normally write -ие (not -ые) in the plural nominative form:

• хороший → хорошие
• плохой → плохие
• свежий → свежие

So свежие ягоды = fresh berries (adjective and noun both nominative plural).

Could the word order be Свежие ягоды продаются в супермаркете? Does the meaning change?

Yes, that word order is completely correct:

• Свежие ягоды продаются в супермаркете.

The basic meaning is the same: Fresh berries are sold in the supermarket.

Differences:

• В супермаркете продаются свежие ягоды.
  Slightly emphasizes the place (in the supermarket).
• Свежие ягоды продаются в супермаркете.
  Slightly emphasizes fresh berries as the topic.

Russian word order is flexible and often used to show what is new or important information, but both versions are natural.

What is the difference between продаются and продают in this context?

• продаются – 3rd person plural, reflexive, passive-like: are sold
  
  • Focus on the goods: ягоды продаются = berries are sold.
• продают – 3rd person plural, active: they sell
  
  • Implies some (often vague) people: (они) продают = they sell.

Compare:

• В супермаркете продаются свежие ягоды.
  Fresh berries are sold in the supermarket. (neutral, standard shop sign style)
• В супермаркете продают свежие ягоды.
  They sell fresh berries in the supermarket. (more conversational, subtly more about the people or the service)

Both are grammatically correct; продаются sounds more like a general statement about availability.

How would the sentence look in the past tense?

You change the verb продаются (present) to продавались (past plural):

• В супермаркете продавались свежие ягоды.
  Fresh berries were sold in the supermarket.

Breakdown:

• продавались – past tense, plural, reflexive of продаваться
• It still agrees with ягоды (plural subject).

How is the sentence pronounced, and where are the stresses?

Stresses (marked with capitals here):

• в супермАркете – stress on А: v superMArkye-tye
• продаЮтся – stress on Ю: pradaYUT-sya
• СвЕжие – stress on СВЕ: SVE-zhiy-ye
• Ягоды – stress on Я: YA-ga-dy

Full phrase (with stresses marked):

• в супермАркете продаЮтся СвЕжие Ягоды

Could I say В магазине продаются свежие ягоды instead of в супермаркете?

Yes. Магазин is a more general word meaning shop, store.

• В магазине продаются свежие ягоды.
  = Fresh berries are sold in the shop.

Grammar is the same:

• в магазине – prepositional singular after в (location)
• продаются свежие ягоды – unchanged

Only the type of place (supermarket vs. shop) changes.