Breakdown of Мы поднимаемся на этаж.
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
этаж
floor, storey
подниматься
to rise, to go up
Questions & Answers about Мы поднимаемся на этаж.
Why does поднимаемся end in -ся? Does it relate to the reflexive pronoun себя?
Yes! The verb поднимать means "to lift" or "to raise." By adding the reflexive suffix -ся (which is a shortened, attached form of себя), the verb literally means "we raise ourselves." In natural English, мы поднимаемся simply translates to "we go up" or "we rise."
Why do we use the suffix -ся here instead of -сь?
The rule for reflexive verbs is to use -ся after consonants and -сь after vowels. Since the base form for "we raise" is поднимаем, which ends in the consonant м, we attach -ся to make поднимаемся.
Why do we use на instead of в for going to a floor?
In Russian, you go "onto" a floor or level rather than "into" it. Because of this spatial logic, for floors of a building (этаж), you always use на instead of в.
What case is на этаж and why?
It is in the Accusative case. Even though на is often used with the Prepositional case to show a fixed location ("on the floor"), here it shows direction of motion towards a place ("going up TO the floor"). Motion toward a destination triggers the Accusative case. Since этаж is an inanimate masculine noun, its Accusative form looks exactly like its standard dictionary form.
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