Search
Hello, dear student! Today we are going to talk about prepositins, which also confuse foreigners. Sometimes, a person can use this or that preposition incorrectly because of its native language. I often hear the phrase "положи книгу в стол" (put a book in the desk) instead of "положи книгу на стол" (put a book on the desk). The meaning of sentences is changed and your interlocutor can misunderstand you, that is why let's look at some of the prepositions.
The preposition "у" [u] is usually used to denote the place, for example:
Дерево, которое у реки, очень красивое [Dereva, katorae u riki, ochen' krasivae] The tree near the river is quite beautiful.
Давай встретимся у станции метро "Курская"? [Davaj fstretimsya u stantsii mitro "Kurskaya"?] - Let's meet near the metro station "Kurskaya"?
The preposition "у" [u] often has the same meaning as the preposition "около" [okala], but, anyway, it is a little bit different. I suppose, the preposition "у" shows the a little bit closer location to an object than the preposition "около" does:
Около моего университета растут цветы [Okala maivo universiteta rastut tsvety] - There flowers are growing up near my university.
In this example the preposition "около" shows and informs us that flowers are growing up somewhere in the territory of a university but does not show the exact place. But if we say, "цветы растут у университета" (flowers are growing up near the university), our interlocutor will immidiatelly understand that the plants are very close to the building.
One more wonderful preposition - "вокруг" [vakrug], which shows that an object or objects are situated within a building, item or object, situated around it forming somewhat like a circle, for example:
Вокруг больницы много парков [Vakrug bal'nitsy mnoga parkav] - There are lots of parks around the hospital.
In this example the preposition "вокруг" (around) shows us that parks are situated on all sides fr om the hospital.
There is also one wonderful and similar to all above mentoned examples preposition "неподалёку от" [nipadalyoku ot]. Like all other prepositions of place, it also describes the location of an item or object nearby something, for example:
Неподалеку от леса произошла автокатастрофа [Nipadalyoku at mesta praishestviya praizashla aftakatastrofa] - There has happened a vehicle crash not far from the wood.
"Неподалёку" (not far) does not give us a perspective, wh ere exactly this crash has happened, but we understand that it's happened nearby woods.
