Word
Папка с двадцатью документами лежит на столе.
Meaning
The folder with twenty documents is lying on the table.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Папка с двадцатью документами лежит на столе.
стол
table / desk
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
документ
document
с
with (also со)
Questions & Answers about Папка с двадцатью документами лежит на столе.
Why does документами match the case of двадцатью? Doesn't the number 20 require the Genitive plural?
That rule only applies to the Nominative and inanimate Accusative cases! When a number from 5 onwards is in an oblique case (like the Instrumental case here, triggered by the preposition с), the "Genitive plural" rule disappears. Instead, both the number and the noun simply agree in the required case. So we use the Instrumental for both: двадцатью and документами.
How do you form the Instrumental case for a number like двадцать?
Numbers from 5 to 20, as well as 30, decline very similarly to feminine nouns ending in a soft sign (-ь), such as ночь (night) or вещь (thing). To form the Instrumental case, you replace the final -ь with -ью. Therefore, двадцать becomes двадцатью.
Why do we use the verb лежит (lies) here? Could I just use a word for "is"?
In the present tense, the verb "to be" is almost always omitted in Russian. To express that something "is" somewhere, Russian speakers use verbs that describe the object's physical orientation. Because a folder (папка) is a flat, horizontal object, it "lies" (лежит) on the table. If it were a vertical object with a base, like a vase or a monitor, it would "stand" (стоит).
Can the phrase с двадцатью документами just follow папка to describe it, without a verb like "containing"?