Word
На земле лежало белое перо, и дочка положила его в книгу как закладку.
Meaning
A white feather was lying on the ground, and my daughter put it into a book as a bookmark.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of На земле лежало белое перо, и дочка положила его в книгу как закладку.
книга
the book
белый
white
и
and
на
on
Questions & Answers about На земле лежало белое перо, и дочка положила его в книгу как закладку.
What case is земле, and why is it на земле?
Земле is the prepositional singular of земля.
After на when it means location (on, at), Russian usually uses the prepositional case:
- на столе = on the table
- на полу = on the floor
- на земле = on the ground
So На земле tells us where the feather was lying.
Why is the verb лежало in the neuter singular?
Because it agrees with перо, which is a neuter singular noun.
- перо = neuter singular
- therefore лежало = past tense, neuter singular
In Russian past tense, verbs agree with the subject in gender and number:
- он лежал
- она лежала
- оно лежало
- они лежали
So лежало белое перо is literally structured as was-lying a white feather, but the verb still agrees with перо.
Why is положила feminine?