На сосне сидела белка и смотрела на нас сверху.

to sit

Breakdown of На сосне сидела белка и смотрела на нас сверху.

• на: at
• и: and
• на: in

Questions & Answers about На сосне сидела белка и смотрела на нас сверху.

Why is it на сосне, not на сосна?

Because на here means on in the sense of location, and after на with a static location, Russian uses the prepositional case.

• dictionary form: сосна = pine tree
• prepositional singular: сосне

So:

• на сосне = on the pine tree

This is a very common pattern:

• на столе = on the table
• на крыше = on the roof
• на сосне = on the pine tree

Why does Russian say на сосне for in the tree / on the tree?

Russian usually uses на with trees when something is sitting or located on them, especially animals and birds.

So Russian naturally says:

• белка сидела на сосне
• literally: the squirrel was sitting on the pine tree

An English speaker might expect in the tree, but Russian conceptualizes this more as on the tree. If you said в сосне, it would sound more like inside the pine tree, which is not the intended meaning here.

Why is it сидела, not сидел?