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
верстак
workbench
тиски
vise
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?
Деталь is a feminine noun. Nouns ending in a soft sign (-ь) can be either masculine or feminine, which usually means you just have to memorize them. However, a helpful hint is that many technical or abstract words ending in -ль, such as модель and деталь, are feminine.
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