В салатнице лежат огурцы, помидоры и зелень.

There are cucumbers, tomatoes, and greens in the salad bowl.

Breakdown of В салатнице лежат огурцы, помидоры и зелень.

• в: in
• и: and
• лежать: to lie
• огурец: the cucumber

Questions & Answers about В салатнице лежат огурцы, помидоры и зелень.

Why is it в салатнице and not в салатницу?

Because в can mean either in or into, and the case shows which one it is.

• в + prepositional = location: в салатнице = in the salad bowl
• в + accusative = motion into something: в салатницу = into the salad bowl

Here the vegetables are already inside the bowl, so Russian uses the location form в салатнице.

What case are огурцы, помидоры и зелень in?

They are in the nominative case, because they are the grammatical subject of the sentence — the things that лежат.

• огурцы = nominative plural
• помидоры = nominative plural
• зелень = nominative singular

Even though English may translate this part more flexibly, in Russian these words are simply the subject.

Why is зелень singular?