Questions & Answers about Моя собака убегает из-под стола.
What exactly does из-под mean here, and is it one word or two?
Из-под is a fixed compound preposition written with a hyphen.
- 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 ? What’s the difference?