Breakdown of На десятом чемпионате он получил золотую медаль.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
десятый
tenth
получить
to receive (perfective)
Questions & Answers about На десятом чемпионате он получил золотую медаль.
Why is it десятом instead of just десятый?
The phrase на десятом чемпионате uses the prepositional case to say where or at what event something happened. Just like standard adjectives, the ordinal number десятый (tenth) must match the noun it describes. Since чемпионат is a masculine noun in the prepositional case (чемпионате), the ordinal number takes the masculine prepositional ending -ом, becoming десятом.
Why do we use на instead of в to say 'at the championship'?
In Russian, organized events and activities (like championships, concerts, or meetings) typically take the preposition на rather than в to denote location. Therefore, we say на чемпионате just like we say на концерте.
Why does золотую have an accusative ending, but медаль doesn't seem to change?
They are both in the accusative case because they are the direct object of the verb получил (received). The word медаль is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign (-ь). For this specific group of feminine nouns, the accusative form is exactly the same as the nominative form. However, any describing adjective still takes the standard feminine accusative ending -ую, which is why we get золотую медаль.
Could I use the imperfective verb получал here instead of получил?