Breakdown of Люди ищут старый корабль на дне моря.
море
sea
старый
old
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
люди
people
Questions & Answers about Люди ищут старый корабль на дне моря.
The current lesson is about the irregular Prepositional ending -у. Why does дно (bottom) just end in -е here?
The irregular stressed -у / -ю ending used for locations (like в лесу or в шкафу) only applies to a specific group of masculine nouns. Because дно is a neuter noun, it simply takes the standard Prepositional ending -е to become на дне (at the bottom).
Why is старый корабль in the Nominative case if it's the direct object they are looking for?
It is actually in the Accusative case! For inanimate (non-living) masculine nouns like корабль, the Accusative form is identical to the Nominative form. If they were looking for a living thing (an animate noun), the ending would change.
Doesn't the verb искать (to look for) sometimes require the Genitive case?
Yes, it can. We use the Genitive case after искать when looking for something abstract, undefined, or something that might not even exist (like "peace" or "a good idea"). Because these people are looking for a specific, physical object (a ship), we use the Accusative case.
Where does the щ in ищут come from?