Breakdown of На реке мы видели восемь лебедей.
мы
we
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
видеть
to see
восемь
eight
река
river
лебедь
swan
Questions & Answers about На реке мы видели восемь лебедей.
Why does the word for swans end in -ей here?
The dictionary form of the word swan is лебедь, which ends in a soft sign (-ь). Because it comes after the number восемь (eight), it must be in the genitive plural. For nouns ending in a soft sign, the genitive plural ending is -ей, making it лебедей.
Doesn't the verb видеть (to see) require the accusative case for the thing being seen?
Yes, and the number восемь is technically in the accusative case here (for numbers like eight, the accusative looks just like the nominative). However, in Russian, any noun following numbers five and above in this context must be in the genitive plural. That is why the noun itself changes to лебедей.
Since лебедь ends in a soft sign, how do I know if it's masculine or feminine, and does it matter for the genitive plural?
The word лебедь is a masculine noun, but you don't actually need to know its gender for this specific rule! One of the handy things about the genitive plural is that almost all nouns ending in a soft sign (-ь), whether masculine or feminine, take the exact same -ей ending.
Why is it на реке instead of на реку?
We use the prepositional case на реке because it describes a static location answering the question where. If the sentence involved motion towards the river, like saying we went to the river, then we would use the accusative case на реку.
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