Breakdown of У великому оркестрі грають талановиті музиканти.
у
in
грати
to play
великий
large
талановитий
talented
оркестр
the orchestra
музикант
the musician
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Questions & Answers about У великому оркестрі грають талановиті музиканти.
What does the phrase “У великому оркестрі” mean, and why do the words change form?
The phrase means “in the big orchestra.” In Ukrainian, when using prepositions like у to indicate location, the noun and its modifying adjective must be in the locative case. That’s why оркестр becomes оркестрі and великий changes to великому—their endings adjust to agree with the gender, number, and case required by the construction.
Why is the subject “талановиті музиканти” placed after the verb “грають” in this sentence?
Ukrainian word order is more flexible than English, and sentence elements can be rearranged for emphasis or stylistic reasons. In this case, starting with the locative phrase У великому оркестрі sets the scene or location first. Then the verb грають (meaning “are playing”) follows, with the subject талановиті музиканти (talented musicians) coming at the end. This ordering is quite natural in Ukrainian.
What role does the locative case play in this sentence?
The locative case is used to express location. Here, because the preposition у is used to mean “in,” both великому (from великий) and оркестрі (from оркестр) take on their locative forms. This tells us where the action of the verb грають (play) takes place.
Why doesn’t this sentence include an article like “a” or “the”?
Ukrainian grammar does not have articles. Definiteness or indefiniteness is determined by context rather than by words equivalent to English “a” or “the.” So even though English requires an article, Ukrainian omits it, and clarity comes from the situation or additional context.
How do the adjectives agree with the nouns in this sentence?
In Ukrainian, adjectives must agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case. In У великому оркестрі, the adjective великий is modified to великому to agree with оркестр in the masculine singular locative. Similarly, in талановиті музиканти, the adjective талановиті agrees with музиканти in both number (plural) and case (nominative, since it is the subject of the sentence).