Breakdown of Птицы сидят на крыше.
птица
bird
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
сидеть
to sit
крыша
roof
Questions & Answers about Птицы сидят на крыше.
Since this lesson is about location, why doesn't крыша take the Instrumental case here?
We use the Instrumental case for location only with specific prepositions like под (under), над (above), перед (in front of), and за (behind). But for simple location meaning 'in' (в) or 'on' (на), Russian still uses the Prepositional case. That is why we see на крыше (Prepositional) instead of на крышей (Instrumental).
Why does the verb сидят end in -ят instead of -ют?
The verb сидеть (to sit) belongs to the second conjugation group. Even though its dictionary form ends in -еть, it acts like an -ить verb when conjugated. So for the 'they' form, the ending is -ят, making it сидят.
How is the plural formed in the word Птицы?
The singular word for 'bird' is птица, which is a feminine noun ending in -а. To make regular feminine nouns plural, you drop the -а and add -ы, giving us птицы.
Would it make sense to use в instead of на here?
No, because в usually means 'inside' an enclosed space. Saying в крыше would imply the birds are physically buried inside the materials of the roof itself! We use на because they are resting on the open, outer surface.