Breakdown of Кот прячется за шторой, а мышь сидит под ковром.
кот
cat
мышь
mouse
а
and (contrastive)
сидеть
to sit
прятаться
to hide
под
under
ковёр
rug
за
behind
штора
curtain
Questions & Answers about Кот прячется за шторой, а мышь сидит под ковром.
Why do we use the Instrumental case for за шторой and под ковром?
The prepositions за (behind) and под (under) take the Instrumental case when answering the question 'where?' (static location). Since the cat and mouse are just staying in their locations, we use the Instrumental forms of штора (curtain) and ковёр (rug).
What happened to the spelling of ковёр (rug) in the phrase под ковром?
Ковёр is a masculine noun. To put it in the Instrumental case, we add the ending -ом. It also has a 'fleeting vowel,' meaning the ё drops out of the stem when an ending is added, changing the word from ковёр to ковром.
Why does the verb прячется (is hiding) end in -ся?
The -ся ending makes the verb reflexive. The base verb прятать means to hide an object (like hiding a toy). By adding -ся, it means the cat is doing the action to itself — it is hiding itself.
Why use the conjunction а instead of и for the word 'and' here?
А is used to show contrast or to switch focus. While и just lists things, а emphasizes that we are looking at two different subjects (a cat and a mouse) doing two different things in completely different situations.
Is мышь (mouse) masculine or feminine, and why does it end in a soft sign?
Мышь is a feminine noun of the 3rd declension, which is a group of feminine nouns that end in a soft sign (-ь). It is in the Nominative case here because the mouse is the subject of the second half of the sentence, so this is just its normal dictionary form.
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