Breakdown of Мама поливает цветы на балконе.
Questions & Answers about Мама поливает цветы на балконе.
Мама is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case (the "dictionary form" of nouns).
- Мама – nominative singular: who is doing the action? → mom
- Маму – accusative singular: whom? (as a direct object)
- Мамы – can be:
- genitive singular (of mom),
- nominative plural (moms),
- or accusative plural (for animate moms).
Here, Мама поливает… = Mom is watering… → мама must be nominative.
Поливать is the infinitive (“to water”).
Поливает is the conjugated form for he/she/it in the present tense.
Verb: поливать (to water, to pour repeatedly)
Present tense conjugation (imperfective):
- я поливаю – I water / I am watering
- ты поливаешь – you (sg., informal) water
- он/она/оно поливает – he/she/it waters
- мы поливаем – we water
- вы поливаете – you (pl. or formal) water
- они поливают – they water
In the sentence, мама = she, so we use она поливает → Мама поливает…
This is the classic Russian aspect difference:
поливать – imperfective
- focus on process, repeated actions, or general habit
- Mom is watering / usually waters the flowers.
полить – perfective
- focus on a single, completed action
- Mom will water / has watered the flowers (once, to completion).
So:
Мама поливает цветы.
Mom is in the process of watering (or does it regularly).Мама польёт цветы. (future perfective)
Mom will water the flowers (once, and finish).
Native speakers pick the aspect depending on whether they want to emphasize process/habit (поливать) or completion (полить).
Цветы is what mom is watering, so it is the direct object → accusative case.
The base noun is:
- цветок – a flower (nominative singular)
- цветы – flowers (nominative plural)
For inanimate nouns, the accusative plural is the same as nominative plural:
- nominative plural: цветы – flowers
- accusative plural: цветы – (water) flowers
So in Мама поливает цветы, цветы is accusative plural, functioning as the direct object.
Singular: цветок (a flower).
Key forms:
- Nominative: цветок – a flower
- Genitive: цветка – of a flower
- Dative: цветку – to a flower
- Accusative: цветок – (water) a flower
- Instrumental: цветком – with a flower
- Prepositional: о цветке – about a flower
Plural:
- Nominative: цветы – flowers
- Accusative (inanimate): цветы – (water) flowers
In this sentence, we have plural accusative → цветы.
Russian has two different nouns that look similar:
- цветок (plural цветы) – flower(s)
- цвет (plural цвета) – color(s)
So:
- цветы = flowers
- цвета = colors
In older or poetic language you may see цвета used for “flowers,” but in modern standard Russian:
- Мама поливает цветы. = Mom is watering the flowers, not the colors.
The choice between на балконе and на балкон depends on location vs. direction:
на балконе – on the balcony, location (where?)
- на
- prepositional case → place where something is
- балконе = prepositional singular of балкон
- на
на балкон – onto the balcony, direction (where to?)
- на
- accusative case → movement towards
- балкон = accusative singular of балкон
- на
In Мама поливает цветы на балконе, we are describing where she is watering them (location), so Russian uses на балконе.
The base noun is балкон – balcony.
- Nominative singular (dictionary form): балкон
- Prepositional singular (after на, when it means “on / at”): балконе
So:
- на балконе – on the balcony (location, prepositional case)
- на балкон – onto the balcony (direction, accusative case)
Here we have на балконе → prepositional case.
Russian has no articles (a, an, the). Nouns are used without them:
- Мама поливает цветы на балконе.
Can mean:- Mom is watering flowers on the balcony.
- Mom is watering the flowers on the balcony.
Whether it feels like “the flowers” or “some flowers” depends on context, not on a separate word. Native speakers infer this from the situation or previous sentences.
Yes. Russian word order is relatively flexible, and these versions are grammatically correct, with slightly different emphasis:
Мама поливает цветы на балконе.
Neutral; states what mom is doing and where.Мама на балконе поливает цветы.
Slightly stronger focus on на балконе as part of the description of mom:
“Mom, on the balcony, is watering the flowers.”На балконе мама поливает цветы.
Emphasizes the location first:
“On the balcony, mom is watering the flowers.”
The grammar (cases, endings) doesn’t change; only focus and information flow change.
Russian does not have a separate “-ing” form in the present like English. The simple present often covers both:
- Мама поливает цветы. can mean:
- Mom is watering the flowers (right now).
- Mom waters the flowers (regularly / as a habit).
Context (or extra words like сейчас – “now”, каждый день – “every day”) tells you whether it’s a current ongoing action or a habit:
- Мама сейчас поливает цветы. – Mom is watering the flowers right now.
- Мама каждый день поливает цветы. – Mom waters the flowers every day.
In the present tense, Russian verbs do not change form for gender, only for person and number:
- он поливает – he waters
- она поливает – she waters
- оно поливает – it waters
All three use поливает.
Gender shows up clearly in the past tense:
- он поливал – he watered
- она поливала – she watered
- оно поливало – it watered
So in Мама поливает, we know мама is feminine from the noun itself, not from the verb form.
Approximate stresses (the stressed syllable is in caps):
- МАма – MA-ma
- поливАет – pa-lee-VÁ-yet
- цветЫ – tsve-TÝ
- на – na (unstressed)
- балкОне – bal-KÓ-nye
So spoken smoothly:
МАма поливАет цветЫ на балкОне.
The main things to watch:
- Stress on -ва́- in поливает
- Stress on the last syllable in цветы
- Stress on -ко́- in балконе.