На столе лежат три книги.

the book

Breakdown of На столе лежат три книги.

• стол: the table
• на: on
• лежать: to lie

Questions & Answers about На столе лежат три книги.

Why is it на столе, not на стол?

Because на столе expresses location: the books are already on the table.

After на when you mean where something is, Russian usually uses the prepositional case:

• стол → на столе

But на стол uses the accusative case and usually means movement onto the table:

• Книги падают на стол. = The books are falling onto the table.

So here:

• на столе = on the table, at rest

Why is the preposition на used here?

Russian uses на for many surfaces and places thought of as on something. A table is treated as a surface, so:

• на столе = on the table

If it were something like in a box, Russian would usually use в:

• в коробке = in the box

So the choice is based on the kind of spatial relationship:

• на = on a surface
• в = inside something

Why does the sentence use лежат instead of a verb meaning are?

In Russian, simple present-tense sentences often do use a separate word for the way English does.