Breakdown of Палитра, с которой работает художник, упала на пол.
работать
to work
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
художник
artist
с
with (also со)
пол
floor
который
which / who / that (relative pronoun)
упасть
to fall (perfective)
палитра
the palette
Questions & Answers about Палитра, с которой работает художник, упала на пол.
Why is it с которой instead of just которая or которую?
The word который (which) must match the gender of the noun it refers to, but its case is determined by its role in its own clause. Here, it refers to the feminine noun палитра, and it follows the preposition с (with). Since this meaning of с requires the Instrumental case, the pronoun takes the feminine Instrumental form, которой.
Why does the verb работает come before the subject художник?
In Russian relative clauses, it is very natural to invert the word order and put the verb before the subject. You could grammatically say с которой художник работает, but с которой работает художник flows much better and is the standard way native speakers structure this type of sentence.
Why is на пол in the Accusative case instead of the Prepositional case?
The verb упала (fell) implies active motion toward a destination. When the preposition на shows direction or motion onto something, it requires the Accusative case. If the palette was already just sitting on the floor with no motion involved, you would use the Prepositional case: на полу.
Why are there commas before с and after художник?
In Russian, a relative clause starting with any form of который must always be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. Because the clause с которой работает художник is inserted directly into the middle of the main sentence (Палитра упала на пол), it needs a comma at both its beginning and its end.
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