Breakdown of Я оставил её линейку на ксероксе.
я
I
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
оставить
to leave behind (perfective)
её
her (possessive)
линейка
the ruler
ксерокс
the copier
Questions & Answers about Я оставил её линейку на ксероксе.
линейку is in the accusative case. Why doesn't её change to match it?
The word её (her) is a third-person possessive pronoun. Unlike possessive words such as мой (my) or твой (your), the third-person forms его (his), её (her), and их (their) are indeclinable. This means they never change their form, no matter what case the noun they belong to is in. Even though линейку is accusative, её stays exactly the same.
Why is the word for ruler линейку instead of its dictionary form?
The dictionary form is линейка, which is a feminine noun. In this sentence, it is the direct object of the verb оставил (left), meaning it receives the action. Therefore, it takes the accusative case, which changes the feminine -а ending to -у.
Why do we use the prepositional case for на ксероксе?
The preposition на takes the prepositional case when describing a static location (answering the question where?). Since the ruler was left resting on the copier, the masculine noun ксерокс takes the standard prepositional ending -е.
Is ксерокс the normal Russian word for any copier, or just the Xerox brand?
Just like Kleenex or Hoover in English, ксерокс is a brand name that became the generic, everyday word for any photocopier in Russian. You will hear it used everywhere for copiers, regardless of the machine's actual manufacturer.
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