Word
Деталь лежит на верстаке в тисках.
Meaning
The part is lying on the workbench in the vise.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Деталь лежит на верстаке в тисках.
в
in / to (direction)
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
лежать
to lie, be lying down
деталь
detail
Questions & Answers about Деталь лежит на верстаке в тисках.
Why does the Russian sentence use a plural word (тисках) for a singular object like "a vise"?
The word тиски (vise) is a plural-only noun in Russian. Just like the English words "scissors" or "pants," it only has a plural form, even when you are talking about a single tool.
How does the word тиски change for the prepositional case here?
The preposition в indicating location requires the prepositional case. For plural nouns, including plural-only nouns like тиски, the prepositional ending is usually -ах or -ях. Since the stem ends in the hard consonant к, we drop the -и and add -ах to get в тисках.
Why does на верстаке end in -е rather than the special location ending -у like в шкафу?
The word верстак (workbench) is a standard masculine noun, so it takes the regular prepositional ending -е. The special -у ending is a leftover from an old case called the locative, and it only applies to a small, memorized list of masculine nouns like лес (в лесу) or шкаф (в шкафу).
Is Деталь masculine or feminine, and how can I tell?