Біля банкомата стояв шахрай.

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Breakdown of Біля банкомата стояв шахрай.

• стояти: to stand
• банкомат: the cash machine
• шахрай: the fraudster

Questions & Answers about Біля банкомата стояв шахрай.

Why is банкомата in that form?

Because біля (near / by) requires the genitive case.

The dictionary form is банкомат (ATM), but after біля it becomes:

• банкомат → nominative singular
• банкомата → genitive singular

So:

• біля банкомата = near the ATM

What case does біля take?

Біля takes the genitive case.

This is very common in Ukrainian. A few examples:

• біля будинку = near the house
• біля магазину = near the shop
• біля банкомата = near the ATM

So if you see біля, you should expect the next noun to be in the genitive.

Why is шахрай not changed?

Because шахрай is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

Here the structure is:

• Біля банкомата = location
• стояв = was standing / stood
• шахрай = the scammer / fraudster

Since шахрай is doing the action, it stays in the nominative singular.