Where English says “the book is on the table”, Russian says the book lies there. A bottle stands, a picture hangs, a bird sits. Each of these verbs comes with a partner for putting something there, and another for getting into position yourself.
A2–B112 min read4 × 3positions, each in three verbs
One table, four verbs. Russian rarely says a thing simply “is” somewhere: it says how the thing is placed.
The short answer
Use стоя́ть (stand) for upright things, лежа́ть (lie) for flat ones, сиде́ть (sit) for people and animals sitting, and висе́ть (hang) for things hanging. These answer где? (where?) and take the prepositional case. To put something somewhere, use their partners ста́вить, класть, сажа́ть, ве́шать, which answer куда́? (where to?) and take the accusative.
1 · Being in position
Four verbs where English uses “is”
These four verbs describe a state: where something is, and how. They are all regular in the present tense, with the ending stressed. Tap a card to hear the sentence.
You can still say a thing simply “is” somewhere: Кни́га на столе́ (the book [is] on the table), with no verb at all. But in describing a scene, Russians nearly always pick the position verb, and it sounds more natural.
2 · The tricky pair
стои́т or лежи́т? Upright or flat
If a thing rests on its base, legs or wheels, or is taller than it is wide, it stands. If it lies along the surface, it lies. The same object can do either.
The verb describes the object’s position, not the object. Swap the position and the verb changes.
стои́т · standson a base, legs or wheels; upright
лежи́т · liesflat on a surface; no base
Clothes in a wardrobe and coats on hooks виси́т (hang); shoes by the door стоя́т; a person or animal staying somewhere for a while сиди́т: Он сиди́т до́ма (on si-DEET DO-ma; Он = he, сиди́т = sits, до́ма = at home: he’s stuck at home).
3 · Be, put, get into position
Three verbs for each position
English uses “stand” for all of: being upright, standing something up, and standing up yourself. Russian uses three different verbs. The last two come in pairs: the first is imperfective (an ongoing or repeated action), the second perfective (one completed action). See Verb aspect for the full idea.
Position
Be there · где?
Put something there · куда́?
Get there yourself · куда́?
Upright
Flat
Seated
Hanging
Be there
Put something there
Get there yourself
The “get there yourself” verbs end in -ся when imperfective (сади́ться, ложи́ться), because the action is done to yourself. You will hear Сади́тесь! (please sit down) and Встава́й! (get up!) every day.
4 · где or куда́
на столе́ or на стол: the ending shows the movement
Russian nouns change their ending to show their role; each form is called a case. After в (in) and на (on), a state of rest uses the prepositional case (на столе́, on the table). Movement onto or into uses the accusative (на стол, onto the table). Position verbs are rest; put verbs are movement.
Same preposition на, different case. The ending -е́ means “resting there”; no ending (for стол) means “arriving there”.
Rest (где?)
Movement (куда́?)
Why
Feminine -а: rest -е, movement -у.
Masculine things: rest -е, movement unchanged.
шкаф takes a special stressed ending -у́ for rest.
Feminine -ь: rest -и, movement unchanged.
5 · All the forms
The conjugations you need
To conjugate a verb is to change its ending for who is doing it (I, you, they). The “be there” verbs are regular. Several of the others are irregular, so here are their key forms. Perfective verbs have no present tense: their “present” forms mean the future (ся́ду, I will sit down).