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Questions & Answers about Петро гуляє біля школи.
What does the preposition біля indicate in this sentence?
The preposition біля means near or by. It specifies the location where Petro is walking, showing that his action takes place in the vicinity of the school.
Which grammatical case is used for школи, and why is it required here?
The noun школи is in the genitive case. In Ukrainian, the preposition біля governs the genitive, so the noun that follows must appear in that form. This case usage marks the relationship of location between the school and the action.
How is the verb гуляє conjugated, and what does its form reveal?
The verb гуляє is the third person singular present tense form of гуляти (to walk or stroll). Its conjugation matches the subject Петро (which is in the nominative case), indicating that Petro is the one who is performing the action of walking.
Why doesn’t this sentence include a word equivalent to the English “is”?
Ukrainian omits the copula (the verb “to be”) in the present tense. Unlike English, where we say “Petro is walking,” Ukrainian simply uses the verb in its proper conjugated form. The meaning is clear without an explicit auxiliary verb, so a word like “is” isn’t needed in Петро гуляє біля школи.
Why is there no article, such as “the,” before школи?
Ukrainian does not have articles like English does. There is no equivalent for “the” or “a/an,” so nouns like школи appear without any article. The context and case endings help convey the intended meaning.
What does the word order in this sentence tell us about Ukrainian syntax?
The sentence Петро гуляє біля школи follows a typical subject-verb-adverbial phrase order. While Ukrainian allows for flexible word order because of its rich case system, this arrangement clearly marks Петро as the subject, гуляє as the verb, and біля школи as the phrase detailing where the action occurs.