Question 1

Why does the adjective end in -ом (высоком)?

Accepted Answer

The word дом (house) is in the prepositional case because it follows the preposition в (in) to show location. In Russian, adjectives must match the case of the noun they describe. For masculine nouns like дом in the prepositional case, the adjective ending changes to -ом (or sometimes -ем). So, высокий becomes высоком.

Question 2

Why is the noun дом changed to доме?

Accepted Answer

Because it comes after the preposition в (in) to answer the question where. This requires the prepositional case. For most masculine nouns, you simply add an -е to the end of the dictionary word, turning дом into доме.

Question 3

Does высокий only mean a tall building, or can I use it for a tall person too?

Accepted Answer

You can use it for both! In Russian, высокий is the standard word for tall or high, whether you are talking about a house (высокий дом), a mountain (высокая гора), or a person (высокий человек).

Question 4

Why is it Мой друг instead of changing to the prepositional case too?

Accepted Answer

Only the words that belong to the location phrase (in a tall house) change to the prepositional case here. Мой друг (My friend) is the subject of the sentence doing the action (living), so it stays in the dictionary form, which is called the nominative case.

Question 5

The dictionary form of the verb is жить (to live). Where does the в in живёт come from?

Accepted Answer

The verb жить has a slight irregularity. When you conjugate it for the present tense, a в is added to the stem. So for he/she/it lives, it becomes живёт. You will see this в in all of its present tense forms, like я живу (I live) and они живут (they live).

Мой друг живёт в высоком доме.

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