Breakdown of Она хочет положить скатерть на этот стол.
стол
table / desk
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
хотеть
to want
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
положить
to put (down)
скатерть
tablecloth
Questions & Answers about Она хочет положить скатерть на этот стол.
Why do we use положить here instead of поставить?
Положить is used for laying things flat horizontally, while поставить is for making things stand vertically. Since a tablecloth (скатерть) is spread out flat on a surface, we use положить.
Does положить trigger the Accusative or Prepositional case for the location?
It takes the Accusative case because it is an action directed at a destination. That is why we see на этот стол (Accusative destination) instead of на этом столе (Prepositional location). If the tablecloth were already lying there, we would use the static verb лежать with the Prepositional case.
Why doesn't the word скатерть change its ending here?
Скатерть is the direct object being placed, so it must be in the Accusative case. However, it is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign (-ь). These nouns do not change their form in the Accusative case, so it looks exactly the same as the Nominative dictionary form.
Why use the perfective положить rather than the imperfective класть after хочет?
She wants to successfully complete the action of putting the tablecloth on the table one time. We use the perfective положить to focus on the single, finished result. If she wanted to do this every day as a habit, we would use the imperfective класть.
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