Представник сидить біля столу.

The representative sits by the table.

Breakdown of Представник сидить біля столу.

• сидіти: to sit
• біля: by
• стіл: the table
• представник: the representative

Questions & Answers about Представник сидить біля столу.

What does Представник mean, and why is it in the nominative case?

Представник translates to representative in English. It appears in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the sentence. In Ukrainian, the subject of a sentence is typically in the nominative case, similar to English.

How is the verb сидить formed and what does it indicate about the subject?

Сидить means sits or is sitting. It is the third person singular form of the verb сидіти (to sit), which agrees with the singular subject представник. This shows that a single representative is performing the action.

What role does the preposition біля play, and why is the noun столу in a different form than its dictionary form?

Біля translates as near or by, and it requires the following noun to be in the genitive case. The word столу is the genitive singular form of стiл (table). This construction indicates the location relative to the subject, showing that the representative is sitting near the table.

Why doesn’t the sentence have an equivalent for the English definite article “the”?

Ukrainian does not use articles like “the” or “a”. Definiteness is understood from context rather than by using articles. Thus, although English would say the representative and the table, in Ukrainian these meanings are conveyed without any additional words.

Is the word order in this sentence fixed, or can it be rearranged for emphasis without changing the meaning?

Ukrainian word order is relatively flexible. While Представник сидить біля столу follows a natural Subject-Verb-Location order, you can rearrange the elements for emphasis (e.g., Біля столу сидить представник) without altering the basic meaning. The grammatical cases keep the relationships clear regardless of the order.