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На столе лежит клавиатура.

На столе лежит клавиатура.
The keyboard is lying on the table.

Breakdown of На столе лежит клавиатура.

стол
the table
на
on
лежать
to lie
клавиатура
the keyboard
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Questions & Answers about На столе лежит клавиатура.

What does на столе literally mean, and why is стол changed to столе?

На столе literally means “on the table”.

  • стол is the basic (dictionary) form, nominative singular: “table”.
  • столе is the prepositional case of стол used after certain prepositions, especially в (in) and на (on), when they express location.

So the pattern is:

  • Nominative: стол – “table”
  • Prepositional (singular): столе – “(on/in) the table”

In this sentence, на + столе = on the table (location).

Why do we use на столе and not на стол here?

Russian preposition на can take two different cases, with different meanings:

  1. на + prepositional → location (where something is)

    • На столе лежит клавиатура.
      “The keyboard is lying on the table.” (where?)

  2. на + accusative → direction / movement (onto where something moves)

    • Я кладу клавиатуру на стол.
      “I am putting the keyboard onto the table.” (to where?)

In your sentence there is no movement, just a static location, so Russian uses the prepositional case: на столе, not на стол.

Why do we use лежит here instead of some form of “to be”, like есть?

Russian usually does not use a present tense form of “to be” (быть) in simple statements like this. Instead of saying “The keyboard is on the table”, Russian:

  1. Often just says:

    • На столе клавиатура. – “There is a keyboard on the table.”

  2. Or, if it wants to show position / posture, uses verbs like лежать (to lie), стоять (to stand), сидеть (to sit).

So лежит is not just “is”; it literally means “lies” and also tells you how the keyboard is located: horizontally, lying flat.

Using лежит makes the sentence more concrete: not only “is there”, but “is lying there”. The verb есть would usually sound unnatural here, unless used in a very specific emphatic or contrastive way.

What’s the difference between лежать, стоять, and сидеть for objects?

Russian often uses these verbs for the position of objects, not just people:

  • лежать – “to lie” (be in a lying / horizontal position)

    • Клавиатура лежит на столе.
      The keyboard lies on the table (flat).
    • Книга лежит на кровати. – The book is lying on the bed.

  • стоять – “to stand” (be in an upright / vertical position, or on a base)

    • Стакан стоит на столе. – The glass is standing on the table.
    • Шкаф стоит у стены. – The wardrobe stands by the wall.

  • сидеть – “to sit” (for people/animals; for objects only in some figurative or dialectal uses)

    • Человек сидит на стуле. – The person is sitting on the chair.
      You might sometimes hear:
    • Кружка сидит на полке. – “The mug is sitting on the shelf.” (colloquial, more like English style)

For a keyboard on a flat surface, лежать is the natural choice.

Can we say Клавиатура лежит на столе instead of На столе лежит клавиатура? Is there any difference?

Yes, both sentences are grammatically correct:

  • На столе лежит клавиатура.
  • Клавиатура лежит на столе.

The difference is mostly in emphasis / information flow, not in basic meaning.

  • На столе лежит клавиатура.
    Starts with на столе → you focus first on the place (“On the table…”) and then say what is there. This word order is common when the location is important or already in the listener’s mind.

  • Клавиатура лежит на столе.
    Starts with клавиатура → you focus first on the keyboard and then tell where it is. Used when you are talking primarily about the keyboard.

Both can be translated as “The keyboard is lying on the table”; the nuance is about which part is presented as new or important information.

Could we drop the verb and just say На столе клавиатура?

Yes.

На столе клавиатура. is also a natural Russian sentence. It means roughly:

  • “There is a keyboard on the table.”
  • “On the table (there is) a keyboard.”

Differences:

  • На столе лежит клавиатура.
    – Mentions the position (lying). More descriptive: you imagine it physically lying there.

  • На столе клавиатура.
    – Just states existence / presence on the table, without saying how it is positioned. This is closer to a pure “There is …” sentence.

In everyday speech, both versions are used, depending on whether the speaker wants to emphasize the state/position or just its presence.

Why is клавиатура in the nominative case here?

In Russian, the subject of the sentence is normally in the nominative case.

In На столе лежит клавиатура:

  • клавиатура is the subject (what is lying?).
  • лежит is the verb (what is it doing?).
  • на столе is a prepositional phrase describing where.

Because клавиатура is the subject, it stays in its dictionary form (nominative singular): клавиатура, not клавиатуру, клавиатуре, etc.

How do we know whether this means “a keyboard” or “the keyboard” in English?

Russian does not have articles (a/an, the). The word клавиатура by itself can mean:

  • “a keyboard”
  • “the keyboard”

Which one is correct depends on context, not on word form:

  • If you are just mentioning it for the first time, neutral translation:
    • На столе лежит клавиатура. → “There is a keyboard on the table.”
  • If both speakers already know which keyboard they’re talking about:
    • Где моя клавиатура? — На столе лежит клавиатура.
      “Where is my keyboard? — The keyboard is lying on the table.”

So: Russian → English article choice is based on situation and context, not grammar endings.

What is the grammatical gender of клавиатура, and does it affect this sentence?

Клавиатура is feminine.

You can usually tell because:

  • It ends in -а (a common feminine ending for nouns).

Does it affect this sentence?

  • In the present tense here (лежит), the verb form does not change with gender in 3rd person singular, so лежит is the same for masculine, feminine, and neuter:
    • Клавиатура лежит… (fem.)
    • Телефон лежит… (masc.)
    • Письмо лежит… (neut.)

But gender does matter in other forms, especially in the past tense:

  • Клавиатура лежала на столе. – “The keyboard was lying on the table.”
    (feminine past form лежала)
What is the infinitive form of лежит, and how is it conjugated?

The verb лежит comes from the infinitive лежать – “to lie” (be in a lying position).

Present tense (imperfective, 1st conjugation):

  • я лежу – I lie / I am lying
  • ты лежишь – you lie (sing., informal)
  • он / она / оно лежит – he / she / it lies
  • мы лежим – we lie
  • вы лежите – you lie (pl. or polite)
  • они лежат – they lie

In your sentence, лежит is 3rd person singular (он/она/оно).

How would the sentence change in the past and in the future?

Using лежать (imperfective) for a state:

  • Present:

    • На столе лежит клавиатура.
      The keyboard is lying on the table.

  • Past (feminine subject):

    • На столе лежала клавиатура.
      The keyboard was lying on the table.

  • Future (imperfective – ongoing state):

    • На столе будет лежать клавиатура.
      The keyboard will be lying on the table / will lie on the table.

To emphasize the moment of beginning to lie down, you’d use the perfective verb лечь:

  • Клавиатура легла на стол.
    The keyboard (has) ended up lying on the table (it lay down onto the table).
How do you pronounce На столе лежит клавиатура with correct stress?

Stresses (capital letters show the stressed syllable):

  • На столЕ лежИт клавиату́ра
    More standard stress marking:
    • на столе́ лежи́т клавиату́ра

Approximated Latin-letter pronunciation:

  • na sta-LYE le-ZHEET kla-vya-TOO-ra

Some notes:

  • столе́:
    • -ле́ stressed; л is soft (palatalized) because of е → roughly “stol-YE”.
  • лежит:
    • stress on the second syllable: лежи́т → “le-ZHEET”.
  • клавиатура:
    • stress usually on у: клавиату́ра → kla-vya-TOO-ra.
    • в + я gives a “vya” sound: клавя-.

In normal speech, the sentence flows as:

na staLÉ leZHÍT klaviatÚra

When would we use находится instead of лежит?

Находиться means “to be located / to be found (somewhere)” and is more neutral and often slightly more formal.

Compare:

  • На столе лежит клавиатура.
    – The keyboard is lying on the table (you imagine its physical posture).

  • Клавиатура находится на столе.
    – The keyboard is located on the table.
    Sounds more neutral/informational, like a description in instructions or an official text.

You’d prefer находится when:

  • you don’t care about physical position (lying/standing/sitting);
  • you are giving neutral information, directions, or official descriptions:
    • Клавиатура находится на столе справа от монитора.
      “The keyboard is located on the table to the right of the monitor.”
What’s the difference between на столе and в столе?

Both use the prepositional case, but the preposition changes the meaning:

  • на столе – on the table (on the surface)

    • На столе лежит клавиатура.
      The keyboard is lying on the table.

  • в столе – in the table (inside: in a drawer or inner space)

    • Клавиатура в столе.
      The keyboard is in the desk (e.g., in a drawer).

So:

  • на → on top of, on the surface
  • в → in, inside

In your sentence, we clearly mean the keyboard is on the surface, so на столе is correct.