Questions & Answers about В чемодане вещи.
Why is there no word for "are" in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb "to be" (am, is, are) is almost always skipped. You don't need a direct translation for "there are"—you just state the location and the objects.
Why does the location (В чемодане) come before the items?
In Russian, to express "There is" or "There are" items in a specific place, you typically start the sentence with the location. If you swapped the order to Вещи в чемодане, the focus changes and it means "The things are in the suitcase."
Why does the word for suitcase (чемодан) have an -е at the end here?
Because it follows the preposition в (in) to describe a location. This requires a grammatical form called the Prepositional case. For most masculine nouns that end in a consonant like чемодан, you form this case by simply adding -е to the end.
What is the singular form of вещи (things)?
The singular is вещь (thing). It is a feminine noun that ends in a soft sign (-ь). To make it plural, you drop the soft sign and add -и.
Learn В чемодане вещи and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free