"Кошка на дереве."
Translation:The cat is in a tree.
81 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I believe it should be "on the tree", let's have a look into the dictionary http://www.lingvo-online.ru/en/Translate/ru-en/%D0%BD%D0%B0%20%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B5 на = (сверху, на поверхности) on
1005
For my opinion, in Russian its enough simple. Use "на=on" any time when something on something, on surface of something, no matter is it on top or in the middle or in the begining of something. For example: The cat is on the trunk of the tree. The cat is on a branch in the middle of a tree. The cat is on the top of the tree. In all these cases Russians use "на". Why in English it - in the tree, I don't understand. For Russian in=в, so "in the tree" means "inside the tree". Google translates "кошка находится на дереве" - "the cat is on the tree".
1005
The only way when I might use "in" in this case is only - "cat in the crown of the tree" (inside the crown)
English uses different prepositions when something is:
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in the middle of a tree (on a leaf or on a branch): in. Examples: The monkeys are in the tree. The cat is in the tree.
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on the top of a tree: on. Example: The bird landed on the (top of the) tree. The boy sat on the (top of the) tree after climbing it.
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inside the tree (in a hole of the tree or inside its components): in. There is gold hidden in that tree. Rubber is made from milky latex in the rubber tree.
In addition to what's already been said... and to make things even more fun, 'на' also means "on" as in literally on top of something. For example "on the table" = "на столе".
The rules are rarely simple and there are many exceptions. The way I figured this one out was that well, the cat's not inside ('в') the tree so I guess it's the other option.
405
On the tree would be if the cat was at the very top and there were no other branches or leaves, because there are usually branches and leaves, the cat would be surrounded by other tree matter, making the cat "in" the tree.
1049
So far the discussion is about "in" or "on" THE tree. But the answer given as correct is in A tree! Are both (A and THE) correct?
1005
If we are talking about a certain (specific) cat that is sitting on a tree, then most likely it must be a certain tree. So it should be-on the tree.
2224
Why not? When you have multiple trees and don't specify which is the one the cat is in, you just want to say that the cat is in one of the trees. Someone asks: "Where is the cat?", you answer: "The cat is in a tree".
In English, "in a tree" means "on a branch of a tree, below its top" and "on a tree" means "on the top of a tree". The Russian sentence probably refers to the former and that's why "in" is used in the main translation and "on" is rejected.
By the way, this had already been mentioned in previous comments.
552
So far, almost all of the discussion here has been about "on" vs "in"... I came to see if there was any discussion about the reason for the word order difference between "кошка на дереве" and "на дереве птицы"...
2224
I wrote "a cat on the tree" and was corrected:
"You have a typo. A cats on the tree."
Now, the correct answer is surely wrong. I reported it as "something else".
My answer was the cat is in the tree and they marked it wrong. Why?