Кав'ярня розташувалася біля парку.

the park

Breakdown of Кав'ярня розташувалася біля парку.

• біля: by
• розташуватися: to be located
• кав'ярня: the café

Questions & Answers about Кав'ярня розташувалася біля парку.

Why is there an apostrophe in Кав’ярня, and how does it affect pronunciation?

The apostrophe in Ukrainian shows that the preceding consonant stays hard and the following vowel is iotated (starts with a [j] sound). In Кав’ярня the sequence is в + я. The apostrophe prevents в from softening and tells you to pronounce it as two sounds: [v] + [ja]. So Кав’ярня is pronounced ka-v’yar-nya [kav’jarnʲa].

What does the suffix -ся in розташувалася mean, and why is the verb in the past tense?

The base verb is розташувати (“to locate/position”). Adding -ся makes it reflexive or middle voice, so розташуватися means “to situate oneself” or “to be situated.” The ending -лася marks feminine singular in the past tense. Since кав’ярня is a feminine noun, we use розташувалася (“it settled/situated itself”) to convey “it is located.”

Why is the preposition біля followed by парку instead of парк?

The preposition біля always requires the genitive case. The nominative парк changes to genitive парку after біля, giving the meaning “near the park.”

Could we say Кав’ярня знаходиться біля парку instead? What’s the difference?