На обед я приготовил куриный суп с овощами.

For lunch I prepared chicken soup with vegetables.

Breakdown of На обед я приготовил куриный суп с овощами.

• я: I
• с: with
• на: for
• приготовить: to prepare

Questions & Answers about На обед я приготовил куриный суп с овощами.

Why does На обед mean for lunch?

In this sentence, на обед means for lunch or as lunch.

Literally, на often means on or onto, but with meals it commonly means for a meal:

• на завтрак = for breakfast
• на обед = for lunch
• на ужин = for dinner

So На обед я приготовил куриный суп с овощами is naturally understood as:

For lunch, I made chicken soup with vegetables.

Why is it обед, not some different-looking form?

It actually is functioning as the accusative case, because на often takes the accusative when it expresses purpose or destination.

However, обед is a masculine inanimate noun, and in the singular its accusative form is the same as the nominative:

• nominative: обед
• accusative: обед

So the form does not change visibly here, even though the case has changed.

Why is the verb приготовил and not готовил?