Breakdown of Мой папа работает на заводе.
папа
dad
мой
my / mine
работать
to work
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
завод
factory
Questions & Answers about Мой папа работает на заводе.
Why do we use на instead of в for "at the factory"?
In Russian, you usually use в for enclosed buildings and на for open spaces or events. However, there are a few traditional exceptions. Workplaces like завод (factory) and почта (post office) always take на. You simply have to memorize на заводе as a set phrase.
Why does the word for factory end in -е here (заводе)?
To say "at" or "in" a location, Russian uses the Prepositional case. The dictionary form of the word is завод. Because it is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, we add the letter -е to the end when it follows на to show location, making it на заводе.
Папа ends in -а, which is usually a feminine ending. Why does it use the masculine word мой (my)?
Even though папа ends in -а like many feminine words, it refers to a male person (dad). Because of this natural meaning, Russian treats it as a masculine noun for adjectives and pronouns. That is why we must use the masculine мой instead of the feminine моя.
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