Breakdown of Игрок занимает вторую позицию в своём третьем финале.
в
in / to (direction)
свой
one's own
второй
second
третий
third
игрок
player
занимать
to occupy (impf)
позиция
position (stance, location)
финал
final
Questions & Answers about Игрок занимает вторую позицию в своём третьем финале.
Why does 'third' take the ending -ем (третьем) instead of the usual -ом ending for the Prepositional case?
The ordinal number третий (third) is special. Unlike most ordinals like первый (first) or второй (second) which decline like standard adjectives, третий has a soft stem. In the Prepositional masculine case, it takes the soft ending -ем, resulting in в третьем финале.
Why is it вторую позицию in this sentence?
The phrase is the direct object of the verb занимает (occupies), so it must be in the Accusative case. Since позиция is a feminine noun ending in -я, it changes to позицию. The ordinal number вторая (second) agrees with it, changing its feminine ending to -ую, giving us вторую позицию.
Could we say в его третьем финале instead of в своём третьем финале?
While you might be understood, Russian grammar strictly prefers the reflexive possessive pronoun свой (one's own) when the possessor is the subject of the sentence. Since the player is occupying a position in his own final, свой is used here. It declines to the Prepositional case (своём) to match финале.
Is занимать the standard verb for 'occupying' a position in Russian?
Yes! The imperfective verb занимать (to occupy / to take up) is part of a very common Russian collocation: занимать позицию (to occupy a position) or занимать место (to take a place). You will see this frequently in sports, charts, and rankings.
Learn Игрок занимает вторую позицию в своём третьем финале and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free