В нашем университете столовая находится напротив спортплощадки.

In our university the cafeteria is located opposite the sports ground.

Breakdown of В нашем университете столовая находится напротив спортплощадки.

• находиться: to be located
• в: at
• наш: our
• университет: the university

Questions & Answers about В нашем университете столовая находится напротив спортплощадки.

What case is в нашем университете, and why is that case used here?

В нашем университете is in the prepositional case.

• университет → в университете
• наш → нашем (the adjective changes to match the noun)

In Russian, when you talk about being in a place (not motion into it), you normally use:

• в + prepositional case
  
  • в университете – in the university
  • в магазине – in the shop

Here we are saying where the cafeteria is (its location), so prepositional is required.

Why is it нашем университете and not наш университет?

Because of the preposition в and the meaning.

• Without в, you would say: наш университет (nominative) – our university.
• With в, to say in our university, you must use the prepositional:
  
  • в нашем университете

In Russian, adjectives must agree with the noun in:

• gender (университет = masculine)
• number (singular)
• case (prepositional)

So наш changes to нашем to match университете in the prepositional case.