Word
В коробке нет подушки.
Meaning
There is no pillow in the box.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of В коробке нет подушки.
в
in / to (direction)
нет
there is no / is not present
коробка
box (cardboard)
подушка
pillow
Questions & Answers about В коробке нет подушки.
Wait, this lesson is about the genitive plural. Is подушки plural here?
No, подушки is in the genitive singular here, meaning "no pillow". Even though this lesson teaches the genitive plural, this sentence is a reminder that нет always requires the genitive case, singular or plural. If it meant "no pillows" (plural), it would use the genitive plural form you are learning now: подушек.
Why is it коробке instead of коробка?
Коробке is in the prepositional case because it follows the preposition в to show location ("in the box"). For most feminine nouns ending in -а, the prepositional case ending is -е.
Why does подушка change to подушки after нет instead of ending in -ы?
Normally, feminine nouns ending in -а change to -ы in the genitive singular. However, подушка ends in -ка. The Russian 7-letter spelling rule states you can never write the letter ы after к (as well as г, х, ш, ж, ч, щ). So, we must use -и instead.
How would I use the genitive plural from this lesson to say "There are no boxes"?