На кухне готовится кофе, а я ставлю чашки на стол.

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Breakdown of На кухне готовится кофе, а я ставлю чашки на стол.

• стол: the table
• на: on
• кофе: the coffee

Questions & Answers about На кухне готовится кофе, а я ставлю чашки на стол.

Why is it на кухне and not в кухне?

Because Russian does not always match English prepositions word-for-word.

With кухня, Russian normally says на кухне for in the kitchen. This is just the usual idiomatic choice.

So:

• на кухне = in the kitchen
• not usually в кухне in normal speech

A good rule for learners is: learn the noun together with its usual preposition.

Examples:

• на кухне = in the kitchen
• в комнате = in the room
• в доме = in the house

So even though English uses in for all of these, Russian uses different prepositions depending on the noun.

What case is кухне, and why does it end in -е?