Word
Они отправятся на юг на корабле.
Meaning
They will head south on a ship.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Они отправятся на юг на корабле.
они
they
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
юг
south
отправиться
to depart
Questions & Answers about Они отправятся на юг на корабле.
Since the current lesson is about using 'по' for 'by means of', why is 'by ship' translated as на корабле instead of using по?
In Russian, physical modes of transport like ships, buses, and trains usually take на + the Prepositional case (на корабле). The preposition по + Dative is used for 'by means of' when talking about communication or sending things (like по телефону - by phone). However, you would use по to talk about the route they are traveling: по морю (by sea).
Why do we use the preposition на twice in this sentence but with different rules for the nouns?
The preposition на triggers different cases depending on what it is doing. In на юг (to the south), it shows direction or motion ('where to?'), so юг is in the Accusative case. In на корабле (on a ship), it indicates the mode of transport ('on what?'), so корабль takes the Prepositional case ending -е.
Why doesn't the verb отправятся have the future tense word будут in front of it?
Отправиться (to set off/depart) is a perfective verb. In Russian, perfective verbs focus on the result of an action and do not have a present tense. When you conjugate them with standard present-tense endings (like the -ят ending here for 'they'), they automatically become the future tense. You only use forms of быть (like будут) with imperfective verbs.