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Questions & Answers about Сусід сидить біля вікна.
What does Сусід mean and what can you tell me about its gender?
Сусід translates to neighbor in English. It is a masculine noun in the singular form. If you need to refer to a female neighbor, you would typically use сусідка.
How is the verb сидить formed in this sentence, and what does it tell us about the action?
The verb сидить is the third person singular present form of the Ukrainian verb сидіти (to sit). This form indicates that the neighbor is currently sitting. Notice that, unlike English, Ukrainian does not require an extra auxiliary verb like is to form the present tense.
What is the role of the preposition біля in this sentence?
Біля is a preposition meaning near or beside. It specifies the location where the action takes place. In our sentence, it tells us that the neighbor is sitting near a window.
Why is the word вікна not in its base (nominative) form, and which case is it in?
After the preposition біля, Ukrainian grammar requires the following noun to be in the genitive case. Вікна is the genitive singular form of вікно (window), formed by modifying the noun’s ending according to the rules of the genitive case.
How do articles in Ukrainian differ from those in English in the context of this sentence?
Ukrainian does not have articles such as a or the. That’s why in Сусід сидить біля вікна, no article appears before сусід or вікна. The meaning is conveyed solely through the nouns and their context, unlike in English where articles play an important role.
Is the word order in Сусід сидить біля вікна similar to English, and can it be rearranged while keeping the meaning intact?
Yes, the basic word order here is similar to English—subject (Сусід), verb (сидить), and an adverbial prepositional phrase (біля вікна). While Ukrainian typically follows a subject-verb-adverbial order, its rich case system allows for more flexible word arrangements without changing the meaning, as long as the case endings correctly indicate each word’s role.