Thread: Chapter 20 questions

Hello all,

Just a few questions on this chapter:

Is this correct? Мы собираемся в следующем месяце провести каникулы в Ростове-на-Дону. Ростов and Дон both in the prepostional case?
How about this? Это здание расположено на берегу озера Байкал. Is берег in the prepositional, озерo in the genitive and Байкал not declined?

Here I need to choose if the verb is in the imperfective or perfective aspect.
--В какой университет вы (are going to enroll)?
--Я думаю, что (I will enroll) в Гарвардский университет.
Would it be поступите and поступлю, both in the perfective, or should the first be imperfective?

Thanks for any help,
Z

-на-Дону is not declined, it's fixed (in prepositional case). Ростов-на-Дону, Ростова-на-Дону etc.

— В какой университет вы поступаете?
— Я думаю, что поступлю в Гарвардский университет.

The question "В какой университет вы поступите?" implies that the answerer is Nostradamus and knows the future.
"В какой университет вы поступаете?" implies that the answerer is in the process of enrolling and it is not known for sure (s)he will succeed.

Originally Posted by zorro

How about this? Это здание расположено на берегу озера Байкал. Is берег in the prepositional, озерo in the genitive and Байкал not declined?

Yes, you've got it right! "... on the shore of Lake Baikal" = "на берегу озера Байкал".
"На берегу" is in prepositional since it indicates a location (where?).
In "на берегу озера", "озеро" is in genitive, since it indicates a sort of "possession" (shore of the lake).

And "Байкал" is not declined when it follows "озеро":
Озеро Байкал - озера Байкал - озеру Байкал - озером Байкал - на озере Байкал.
Grammatically "Байкал" functions as an appostion here: Apposition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Appositions in Russian usually do decline (из города Москвы), but sometimes they do not (из города Москва is also possible). Undeclinable apposition is mainly used when it is a geographical name or a title (like a name of a book, a newspaper, a film etc.).

Note if "озеро" is not used, "Байкал" would decline itself:
Байкал - Байкала - Байкалу - Байкалом - на Байкале.

Thanks, guys. Not only for the corrections but for the rationale behind them. That helps me figure out on my own other related questions.

Z