Learn Hardcore Russian: На праздник бабушка снова использует этот сервиз и ставит его на большой стол. - For the holiday Grandma uses this tea set again and puts it on the big table.

на + accusative is often used:
- for events: на концерт (to the concert), на праздник (for the holiday/party), на день рождения (for the birthday).
- to indicate the occasion on which something happens.

Using для праздника would mean “for the benefit of the holiday / intended for the holiday” and sounds more like you’re preparing something for the holiday in a more abstract or purpose-focused way.

In this sentence, на праздник means that when the holiday/celebration comes, grandma uses this set and puts it on the table—so на is natural here.

What case is праздник in, and why?

Праздник is in the accusative case: на праздник.

After на, Russian uses:
- accusative: when there is a sense of direction, time, or occasion (куда? когда? на что?)
  - на стол (onto the table)
  - на концерт (to the concert)
  - на праздник (for/on the holiday)
- prepositional: when indicating location (где?)
  - на столе (on the table)
  - на концерте (at the concert)

Here it’s about the occasion (for the holiday), so на + accusative is used.

Why is it использует этот сервиз, not пользуется этим сервизом?

Both are possible, but they differ slightly in nuance and grammar:

использует этот сервиз
- Verb: использовать (to use, make use of).
- Takes a direct object in the accusative:
  - использует что? — этот сервиз (accusative).
- Neutral, often a bit more formal/technical, but common in everyday speech too.
пользуется этим сервизом
- Verb: пользоваться (to use).
- Takes an instrumental object:
  - пользуется чем? — этим сервизом (instrumental).
- Sounds a bit more colloquial/everyday in this context.

So:

использует этот сервиз = “(she) uses this tea set” (grammatical focus on что?).
пользуется этим сервизом = “(she) makes use of this tea set” (focus on чем?).

Both are correct; the sentence simply chose использовать with accusative.

Is использует present tense, and how does it translate here? Could it also mean future?

Использует is formally a 3rd person singular present tense form.

However, использовать is a biaspectual verb in modern Russian: it can behave like imperfective or perfective, depending on context.

In this sentence:
- The meaning is habitual: “On holidays, Grandma uses this set again...”
- So here we interpret it as present tense, imperfective, describing a regular/recurring action.

In other contexts, present forms of использовать can refer to the future (like other perfective verbs):

Завтра он использует эти данные.
“Tomorrow he will use this data.”

So:

Here: habitual present — “(she) uses”.
In other contexts: the same form can be understood as future (“will use”), from the perfective side.

What exactly does сервиз mean? Is it like “service” in English?

Сервиз in Russian is a set of matching dishes or tableware, typically for tea, coffee, or dining:

чайный сервиз — tea set
обеденный сервиз — dinnerware set

It is not used like English “service” in “customer service” or “IT service”. It’s specifically about sets of dishes/plates/cups, often something prettily matched, sometimes “good china.”

Why is it ставит его на большой стол and not ставит его на большом столе?

Because of the difference between movement onto something vs. location on something:

на + accusative (куда?) — onto where? (direction/movement)
- ставит его на стол — “(she) puts/sets it onto the table.”
на + prepositional (где?) — where? (location)
- он лежит на столе — “it is lying on the table.”

Here, ставит implies putting the set onto the table (movement), so:

на стол (accusative) is correct, not на столе.

Why is the pronoun его used for сервиз? Isn’t его also “his”?

Yes, его can mean both:

The possessive pronoun: его = his
The 3rd person singular masculine/neuter object pronoun: его = him / it

In this sentence, его refers back to сервиз:

сервиз is masculine, inanimate.
The corresponding accusative pronoun is его.

So:

ставит его на большой стол = “puts it (the tea set) on the big table.”

There is no possession meaning (“his”) here; it’s the object pronoun “it.”

Why is it большой стол, not большим столом or большого стола?

Большой стол is in the accusative case, used as the object of direction after на:

ставит (что? куда?) его на большой стол

For inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative form = nominative form:

Nominative: большой стол
Accusative: большой стол (same form)

Other cases would change the form:

большим столом — instrumental (“with/by means of a big table”)
большого стола — genitive (“of a big table”)

Here, you need accusative for the destination (“onto the big table”), so большой стол stays in the nominative/accusative shape.

Why is снова placed after бабушка? Could it go elsewhere?

Current word order: бабушка снова использует этот сервиз...

This positions снова (“again”) naturally before the verb it modifies: использует.

Possible variants (all grammatically correct but with slightly different emphasis or style):

На праздник бабушка снова использует этот сервиз... (neutral, natural)
На праздник бабушка использует снова этот сервиз... (mild emphasis on “this set again, as opposed to something else”)
На праздник снова бабушка использует этот сервиз... (emphasis that once again it is Grandma who does it; a bit unusual)

The given order (бабушка снова использует...) is the most neutral and typical for “Grandma again uses this set.”

Could you say кладёт его на большой стол instead of ставит его на большой стол? What’s the difference?

Both verbs can be used for putting something on a surface, but they emphasize different things:

ставить / поставить — “to put, to place (upright)”
- Often implies standing/vertical position:
  - ставить бутылку на стол (put a bottle on the table).
- Also used more generally for “placing” objects, including large sets or containers.
класть / положить — “to lay, to put down (horizontally)”
- Emphasizes a lying/horizontal position:
  - класть книгу на стол (put a book on the table).

With сервиз, you can imagine placing the box/set or the pieces onto the table. Russians very often say:

ставит сервиз на стол — sounds completely natural.

Кладёт сервиз на стол is also understandable, but ставит is more idiomatic for putting a set or dishes on the table as part of “setting the table.”

Why is there no article like “the” or “a” in на большой стол or этот сервиз? How do we know if it’s “the big table” or “a big table”?

Russian has no articles (no “a/an” or “the”). The meaning that English expresses with articles is shown in Russian by:

context,
word order,
demonstratives (like этот, “this”),
or just implied information.

In this sentence:

этот сервиз literally is “this set”, so in English it’s naturally “this tea set”.
на большой стол in context is “on the big table”, because we imagine a specific, known big table in Grandma’s home (probably the usual dining table).

So the English translator adds “the” where it sounds natural, but Russian doesn’t use any article-like word there.

Why is the verb ставит (3rd person singular) and not something like ставитЬ? How is the verb ending determined?

Ставит is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb ставить (“to put, to place”):

Infinitive: ставить
Present tense:
- я ставлю
- ты ставишь
- он/она/оно ставит
- мы ставим
- вы ставите
- они ставят

The ending -ит is a regular 2nd conjugation ending for он/она/оно (he/she/it).

Бабушка = “grandma” is 3rd person singular feminine, so the verb must also be 3rd person singular:
- бабушка ставит — “Grandma puts/places...”

Ставить (with -ть) is just the infinitive form; in the sentence we need the conjugated form ставит to match бабушка.

Can the sentence be reordered, for example: Бабушка на праздник снова использует этот сервиз? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, it can be reordered, and Russian allows fairly flexible word order. For example:

На праздник бабушка снова использует этот сервиз... (original)
Бабушка на праздник снова использует этот сервиз...
Бабушка снова использует этот сервиз на праздник...

All of these are grammatically correct and have almost the same meaning: “On holidays, Grandma uses this set again...”

Subtle effects:

Placing на праздник at the start slightly emphasizes the occasion (“as for the holiday...”).
Moving на праздник later (e.g., at the end) can make it sound a bit like an afterthought or clarification, but still natural:
- Бабушка снова использует этот сервиз на праздник
  → “Grandma again uses this set for the holiday.”

In everyday speech, all these variants would be understood the same; the original order is simply a very natural, neutral choice.