Breakdown of В магазине пятьдесят четыре яблока.
яблоко
apple
в
in / to (direction)
магазин
store, shop
четыре
four
Questions & Answers about В магазине пятьдесят четыре яблока.
Why is it яблока (genitive singular) instead of plural when there are 54 of them?
With compound numbers in Russian, the noun's case is decided by the very last word of the number. Because 54 ends in четыре (four), the noun takes the genitive singular. If the number ended in 5-9 or 0 (like 50 or 55), the noun would take the genitive plural: яблок.
Is there a trick to remembering how to spell пятьдесят (fifty)?
Yes! The numbers 50 through 80 are just the base number plus десят (which means 'tens'). So, 50 is literally пять (five) + десят (tens). Pay attention to the spelling: the soft sign (ь) stays in the middle of the word, right after the five, but there is no soft sign at the end.
Where is the translation for 'there are' in this sentence?
Russian typically skips the verb 'to be' in the present tense. When a sentence starts with a location like В магазине (In the store) and is followed by a subject, it naturally translates to 'There is' or 'There are' in English.
Is яблока a feminine word because it ends in -а?
It looks like one here, but no. The dictionary form is яблоко (apple), which is a neuter noun. The -а at the end of яблока is just the standard genitive singular ending for neuter nouns ending in -о, which is required here by the number четыре.