Learn Hardcore Russian: В корзине лежит зелёный огурец.

So в корзине literally means “in (the) basket,” with корзине in the prepositional case to agree with в in the meaning “in/inside (somewhere).”

What case is корзине, and how is it formed?

Корзине is in the prepositional case, singular.

Base form:

Nominative singular (dictionary form): корзина

Prepositional singular pattern for most feminine nouns ending in -а:

-а → -е
- книга → в книге (in the book)
- комната → в комнате (in the room)
- корзина → в корзине (in the basket)

So the ending -е on корзине shows:

prepositional case
singular
feminine gender (from the base noun корзина)

Why do we use the verb лежит? Why not just say something like “is” in Russian?

Modern Russian usually drops the verb “to be” in the present tense in simple sentences like “He is a student,” “The book is big,” etc. But when you want to describe position (lying, standing, sitting), Russian normally uses a specific verb:

лежать – to lie, to be lying (horizontal position)
стоять – to stand, to be standing (vertical position)
сидеть – to sit, to be sitting

In your sentence:

лежит is 3rd person singular, present tense of лежать.
It literally means: “lies” / “is lying.”

So В корзине лежит зелёный огурец is literally:

“In the basket lies a green cucumber.”

Russian prefers a concrete posture verb instead of a neutral “is” when describing where and how an object is positioned.

What is the infinitive of лежит, and what person/number is it?

Infinitive: лежать – “to lie,” “to be lying”
лежит is:
- 3rd person
- singular
- present tense

A mini conjugation in the present tense:

я лежу – I lie / am lying
ты лежишь – you lie / are lying (singular, informal)
он/она/оно лежит – he/she/it lies / is lying
мы лежим – we lie / are lying
вы лежите – you lie / are lying (plural / formal)
они лежат – they lie / are lying

What case is огурец in, and what is its base form?

Огурец here is in the nominative case, singular.

The noun:

Nominative singular (dictionary form): огурец – a cucumber
Nominative plural: огурцы – cucumbers

In this sentence, огурец is the grammatical subject: it’s the cucumber that is doing the “lying” (лежит). Subjects normally appear in the nominative case.

So:

зелёный огурец = “(a) green cucumber” (nominative singular, masculine)

Why is the adjective зелёный in that form? Why not зелёное or зелёная?

Adjectives in Russian agree with the noun in:

gender
number
case

The noun огурец:

gender: masculine
number: singular
case: nominative

The adjective зелёный is the masculine, nominative, singular form of “green.”

Compare:

Masculine: зелёный огурец (green cucumber)
Feminine: зелёная корзина (green basket)
Neuter: зелёное яблоко (green apple)
Plural: зелёные огурцы (green cucumbers)

So we use зелёный to match огурец (masculine, singular, nominative).

Can I change the word order, for example: Зелёный огурец лежит в корзине? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can change the word order. Russian word order is relatively flexible, and case endings show the roles of words.

All of these are grammatically correct:

В корзине лежит зелёный огурец.
Neutral: focuses a bit on the location first (“In the basket there lies a green cucumber”).
Зелёный огурец лежит в корзине.
Slightly more neutral/standard “English-like” order: subject first, location last. Emphasis more on the cucumber as the topic.
В корзине зелёный огурец лежит.
Possible in speech for special emphasis or rhythm; can sound somewhat marked or stylistic.

The basic meaning is the same in all cases. The differences are mostly in emphasis and information flow (what is presented as known vs. new information), not in core meaning.

Why is it в корзине and not на корзине? What is the difference between в and на here?

в usually means “in, inside”
на usually means “on, on top of”

So:

в корзине – in the basket, inside it
на корзине – on the basket, on its surface (e.g., on the lid, on top)

In your sentence, the cucumber is inside the basket, so в корзине is the natural choice.

There is no word for “a” or “the” here. How do we know if it’s “a green cucumber” or “the green cucumber”?

Russian has no articles (a/an, the). The noun огурец by itself can correspond to:

a green cucumber
the green cucumber
sometimes just green cucumber (in a general sense)

Which one is correct in English depends on context and what the speaker means:

If you are just mentioning it for the first time:
В корзине лежит зелёный огурец.
→ “There is a green cucumber in the basket.”
If both speakers already know which cucumber is being talked about:
→ “In the basket lies the green cucumber.”

Russian leaves this unspecified; English must choose. The Russian sentence itself does not force “a” or “the.”

How would I say “There are green cucumbers in the basket” instead of just one cucumber?

You would make both the noun and the verb plural:

Singular: В корзине лежит зелёный огурец.
– There is a green cucumber lying in the basket.
Plural: В корзине лежат зелёные огурцы.
– There are green cucumbers lying in the basket.

Changes:

Verb: лежит → лежат (3rd person singular → 3rd person plural)
Noun: огурец → огурцы (singular → plural)
Adjective: зелёный → зелёные (agrees in plural with огурцы)

What is the difference between лежит and находится or есть in similar sentences?

These verbs can all express presence or location but with different nuances:

лежит – “lies, is lying”
- Describes position (horizontal).
- Adds a physical, visual detail: the cucumber is lying there.
находится – “is located, is found”
- More neutral, often formal or technical.
- Focuses on location, not on posture.
- В корзине находится зелёный огурец. – “A green cucumber is located in the basket.” (sounds more formal/technical)
есть – “there is / there exists” (in this use)
- Used for pure existence, especially when introducing something.
- В корзине есть зелёный огурец. – “There is a green cucumber in the basket.” (no posture implied)

Nuance:

лежит → you picture it physically lying there.
есть → you just say that at least one green cucumber is present.
находится → formal way to specify its location.

Why does the adjective come before the noun: зелёный огурец, not огурец зелёный?

The default position for attributive adjectives in Russian is before the noun:

зелёный огурец – a green cucumber
большой дом – a big house
новая книга – a new book

You can put the adjective after the noun, but that usually makes it predicative or emphatic, similar to “the cucumber is green” or “the cucumber is green (in particular)”:

огурец зелёный
- Often understood as “the cucumber is green” (statement about its state)
- Or as an emphatic description in context.

In your sentence, зелёный огурец is a simple descriptive noun phrase, so adjective-before-noun is normal.

How is зелёный pronounced, especially the letter ё?

Зелёный is pronounced approximately as:

[zʲɪˈlʲɵnɨj] (in IPA)
Roughly: zee-LYO-nyy (with LYO stressed)

Details:

е in зе- is like ye in yes: [zʲɪ]
лё has ё, which is always stressed and sounds like yo in yoga.
-ный is like a reduced -ny sound: [nɨj]

Important:

ё is always pronounced as yo and is always stressed.
In many Russian texts, ё is written simply as е, but the pronunciation stays yo. Here it's written with dots, which is clear: зелёный.

Why is the ending -е used in в корзинЕ, but -ец in огурЕЦ doesn’t change?

Two different things are happening:

Корзина → корзине
- The noun is changing case (nominative → prepositional) to show location after в.
- Feminine -а nouns usually get -е in the prepositional singular:
  - комната → в комнате
  - страна → в стране
  - корзина → в корзине
Огурец stays огурец
- It is the subject of the verb лежит, so it is in the nominative case.
- There is no reason to change its case here, so it keeps its nominative singular form огурец.

So:

корзина changes form because the preposition + case require it (в корзине).
огурец stays the same because it is the subject in nominative.