На столе лежит розовая папка.

the table

Breakdown of На столе лежит розовая папка.

• на: on
• лежать: to lie
• папка: the folder

Questions & Answers about На столе лежит розовая папка.

Why is it на столе, not на стол?

Because на can take different cases depending on the meaning.

• на стол = onto the table → direction/motion toward a surface
• на столе = on the table → location

Here the folder is already there, so Russian uses the prepositional case: стол → на столе.

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What case is столе in?

Столе is in the prepositional case.

With на, the prepositional case is commonly used when you are talking about a place where something is located:

• на столе = on the table
• на полке = on the shelf
• на полу = on the floor

So in this sentence, на столе tells you the location.

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Why does Russian use лежит here instead of a word meaning is?