Breakdown of Аптека находится на противоположной стороне улицы.
на
on
улица
the street
находиться
to be located
аптека
the pharmacy
Questions & Answers about Аптека находится на противоположной стороне улицы.
Why does the sentence use находится? Why not just leave the verb out, or use есть?
Находится means is located / is situated. In Russian, this is a very common way to talk about where something is.
- Аптека находится... = The pharmacy is located...
- In the present tense, Russian usually does not use есть to mean simple is/are.
- You could omit the verb in some short, conversational contexts, but here находится sounds natural and clear.
So:
- Аптека на противоположной стороне улицы = possible in casual speech
- Аптека находится на противоположной стороне улицы = fuller, standard, very natural
What case is стороне, and why?
Стороне is in the prepositional case.
The preposition на can take different cases, but when it means location (on / at), it usually takes the prepositional:
- на столе = on the table
- на улице = in the street / outside
- на стороне = on the side
Here the pharmacy is located somewhere, so we use the location pattern:
- на противоположной стороне
That is why сторона becomes стороне.