Breakdown of Билет на корабль очень дорогой.
очень
very
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
дорогой
expensive
билет
ticket
Questions & Answers about Билет на корабль очень дорогой.
Why do we use на here instead of для to say 'a ticket for the ship'?
In Russian, when you talk about tickets for transportation or events, you use the preposition на followed by the Accusative case (which indicates direction). Think of it as buying a ticket 'onto' the ship.
What case is корабль, and why doesn't its ending change?
It is in the Accusative case, which is triggered by the preposition на. Because корабль (ship) is an inanimate masculine noun, its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary (Nominative) form.
Does the adjective дорогой (expensive) describe the ticket or the ship?
It describes the ticket (билет). The core of the sentence is 'Билет дорогой' (The ticket is expensive). The phrase на корабль (for the ship) just adds extra detail. Since билет is a masculine noun in the Nominative case, дорогой takes the matching masculine Nominative form.
Why does дорогой end in -ой instead of the typical masculine ending -ый?
Masculine adjectives take the -ой ending when the word's spoken stress falls on that final syllable (do-ro-GÓY). When the stress falls on an earlier part of the word, you use the standard -ый or -ий endings instead.