Learn Hardcore Russian: Моя собака убегает из-под стола.

Literally, it means “from under”.
It combines ideas of:
- из = from (out of)
- под = under
  but in modern Russian you treat из-под as one unit, not as two separate prepositions.

In this sentence:

Моя собака убегает из-под стола.
“My dog is running away from under the table.”

из-под стола = “from under the table.”

Why is it стола and not стол after из-под?

Because из-под always requires the genitive case.

The noun стол (table) changes in the genitive singular to стола.
Basic forms of стол:
- Nominative (dictionary form): стол – “table”
- Genitive: стола – “of the table / from the table”

Since из-под governs the genitive, you must say:

✅ из-под стола – from under the table
❌ из-под стол – incorrect

So the case change is purely grammatical, not a change in meaning of “table.”

Can I say под столом instead of из-под стола? What’s the difference?

They describe different things:

под столом = under the table (location, where something is)
из-под стола = from under the table (movement away from that place)

Compare:

Моя собака сидит под столом. – My dog is sitting under the table.
Моя собака убегает из-под стола. – My dog is running away from under the table.

So for movement out from under something, you need из-под + genitive.
For static location under something, you use под + instrumental (под столом).

Could I say из-под стола моя собака убегает instead? Is that still correct?

Yes, that word order is grammatically correct, but the emphasis changes.

Моя собака убегает из-под стола.
Neutral, usual order. The sentence is “about” your dog; then we say from where she runs away.
Из-под стола моя собака убегает.
Puts more focus on “from under the table” – for example, contrasting with some other place:
- Из-под стола моя собака убегает, а кошка остаётся.
  From under the table my dog runs away, but the cat stays.

Russian word order is fairly flexible; here both variants are possible.

Why is it убегает and not just бежит? What’s the difference?

Both involve running, but they have different nuances:

бежит (from бежать) = is running (just describing the action)
- Собака бежит. – The dog is running.
убегает (from убегать) = is running away (escaping), running away from somewhere/someone.
- The prefix у- often adds the meaning away / off.

So:

Собака бежит из-под стола. – The dog is running out from under the table.
(more neutral, just movement)
Собака убегает из-под стола. – The dog is running away from under the table
(suggests escaping, avoiding something, or going where you don’t want it to go).

In your sentence, убегает highlights that the dog is running away, not just moving.

Is убегает present tense? Does it mean “is running away” or “runs away”?

Убегает is present tense, imperfective aspect.

Russian doesn’t have a separate present continuous form like “is running” vs “runs”; the same form covers both. Context decides how to translate:

Моя собака убегает из-под стола.
- could be “My dog is running away from under the table (right now).”
- or “My dog runs away from under the table (whenever something happens / habitually).”

So yes, it’s present tense, and it can correspond to both English “is running away” and “runs away.”

What is the verb pair / aspect of убегать? What’s the perfective form?

Убегать is imperfective. Its common perfective partner is убежать.

Imperfective – убегать = to be running away, to run away (process, repeated/habitual)
- Present: он убегает – he is running away / he runs away
- Past: он убегал – he was running away / he used to run away
- Future: он будет убегать – he will be running away / will keep running away
Perfective – убежать = to run away (one completed event)
- Future: он убежит – he will run away (once, to completion)
- Past: он убежал – he ran away / has run away (it’s done)

You cannot normally use perfective (убежать) in the present; its present-form shapes refer to the future.

How do you conjugate убегать in the present tense?

Present-tense forms of убегать (imperfective):

я убегаю – I run away / am running away
ты убегаешь – you (sg, informal) run away / are running away
он / она / оно убегает – he / she / it runs away / is running away
мы убегаем – we run away / are running away
вы убегаете – you (pl or formal) run away / are running away
они убегают – they run away / are running away

Your sentence uses он/она/оно form (убегает) because собака is grammatically feminine singular, and all feminine singular nouns take the same third-person singular verb form.

Why is it моя собака, not мой собака?

Because собака (dog) is a feminine noun in Russian, and the possessive pronoun must agree in gender with the noun.

Forms of “my” in Russian:

мой – masculine (мой стол – my table)
моя – feminine (моя собака – my dog)
моё – neuter (моё окно – my window)
мои – plural (мои собаки – my dogs)

So the correct combination is:

✅ моя собака – my dog
❌ мой собака – incorrect grammar

Could you just say Собака убегает из-под стола without моя? Does it still sound like “the dog”?

Yes, you can say:

Собака убегает из-под стола.

In Russian, there is no word for “the”, and bare nouns are often used where English needs “the”:

Собака убегает из-под стола. – The dog is running away from under the table.

Adding моя makes the possession explicit:

Моя собака убегает из-под стола. – My dog is running away from under the table.

So both are correct; you choose depending on whether you need to stress that it’s your dog.

Why is it из-под стола and not something like от стола?

Different prepositions express different spatial ideas:

от стола = away from the table (starting point is near the table, not under it)
из-под стола = from under the table (starting point is beneath the table)

Compare:

Собака убегает от стола. – The dog is running away from the table (maybe it was next to it).
Собака убегает из-под стола. – The dog is running away from under the table.

Because your sentence clearly involves movement from under the table, из-под is the natural choice.

Can из-под be used with other nouns too? Is the pattern always the same?

Yes, из-под is used with many nouns, always followed by the genitive case. Some examples:

из-под кровати – from under the bed
из-под машины – from under the car
из-под дивана – from under the sofa
из-под зонта – from under the umbrella

Plural examples also use the genitive plural:

из-под столов – from under the tables
из-под домов – from under the houses

The pattern is stable:

из-под + [noun in genitive] = from under [noun]

How is the whole sentence pronounced? Where is the stress in each word?

Approximate stress and pronunciation:

Моя́ – mo-YA (stress on the second syllable)
соба́ка – sa-BA-ka (stress on the second syllable)
убега́ет – u-be-GA-et (stress on га)
из-под – roughly IZ-pod (prepositions are often weak, but you can think of the stress on из)
стола́ – sta-LA (stress on the last syllable)

Put together, with main stresses:

Моя́ соба́ка убега́ет из-под стола́.