Questions & Answers about Я поставил полный стакан воды на стол.
Why is поставил used here, and what does it imply?
Поставил is the perfective past of ставить/поставить (“to put/place in an upright position”). It implies:
- a completed action (“I put/placed” as a finished event),
- typically placing something so it ends up standing (a glass, bottle, cup, etc.). For “to put” in general Russian often chooses a verb based on the object’s typical final position: поставить (stand), положить (lay), повесить (hang).
Why does стакан become стакан воды—what case is воды and why?
Воды is genitive singular of вода. After a container word like стакан (“a glass”), Russian commonly uses:
- N + Genitive to mean “a glass of (some) water”: стакан воды, бутылка молока, чашка чая. This is a very standard pattern for contents/measure.
What does полный стакан воды mean grammatically—does полный describe the glass or the water?
Grammatically, полный (masculine nominative singular) agrees with стакан, so it describes the glass as being full. In meaning, of course, it’s “a glass full of water.”
Word group: полный (какой?) стакан (чего?) воды.