Word
По прибытии в парк мы увидели, что осенние листья лежат под деревьями.
Meaning
Upon arriving in the park, we saw that the autumn leaves were lying under the trees.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of По прибытии в парк мы увидели, что осенние листья лежат под деревьями.
парк
park
мы
we
дерево
tree
в
in / to (direction)
Questions & Answers about По прибытии в парк мы увидели, что осенние листья лежат под деревьями.
Why is the plural of лист here листья and not листы?
The noun лист has two plural forms with different meanings, which is the focus of this lesson. Листья is used for leaves on a tree or plant. Листы is used for sheets of paper, metal, or cardboard. Since this sentence is about autumn foliage in a park, we use листья.
Why is it По прибытии with an -ии ending instead of the dative по прибытию?
When the preposition по means 'upon' or 'immediately after' an event, it requires the prepositional case, not the dative. For neuter nouns ending in -ие like прибытие, the prepositional ending is -ии. So, 'upon arrival' is по прибытии.
Why does the Russian sentence use the present tense лежат when the English translation says 'were lying'?
In Russian, when you report what someone saw, heard, or realized, the subordinate clause (after что) often keeps the tense that was true at that exact moment. To the people arriving, the leaves 'are lying' there. English requires us to shift this to the past tense to match the main verb 'saw', but Russian does not.
Why is it в парк (accusative) rather than в парке (prepositional) here?