"There is a car in front of the bridge."

Translation: Перед мостом стоит машина.

[servolock]

Would the typical Muscovite use"стоит" in this kind of sentence, or not? Should we remember to always include it?

[mosfet07]

It's usually used in statements but is not obligatory in dialogues:

There is a car near the house. Near the house is a car.
Рядом с домом стоит машина.

There is a cat near the door. Near the door is a cat.
У двери лежит кошка.

— Go to the store! — And where is your car? — My car is near the house.
— Поехали в магазин! — А где твоя машина? — (Моя) машина (стоит) рядом с домом.

— What is it? — It's a car near the house.
— Что это? — Это машина рядом с домом. — Это машина, стоя́щая рядом с домом. (participle)

— Where is the box? — The box is near the door.
— Где коробка? — Коробка (стоит) рядом с дверью.

— Where is the cat? — The cat lies near the door.
— Где кошка? — Кошка лежит рядом с дверью.

[an_alias]

This might be getting more complex than I'm actually ready for but - what dictates the (very Russian) verb choice in these situations?

I can see, but couldn't possibly explain, why лежит wouldn't work (but стоит does) in a sentence like: Рядом с домом стоит машина.

But why not У двери стоит кошка?

It feels like (I'm very scientific this way) you'd choose стоить for inanimate objects and лежать for animate but I'm not sure that's entirely true or reliable.

[mosfet07]

Usually (not always) tall things use "стоять" and flat things use "лежать". But I cannot say "стоит" about a cat and "лежит" about a car for some reason. Maybe because cats can't really "stand" and cars are remain "standing" after stopping.

• "Газета лежит на столе" (it is flat)
• But "тарелка стоит на столе" (Why, it's also flat, after all? No one knows...)
• "Бутылка (bottle) стоит на столе" if it is standing on it's bottom.
• "Бутылка лежит на столе" if it is knocked over.
• "Книга лежит на столе". Horizontally.
• "Книга стоит на полке (shelf)". Vertically.

Here is the topic on StackExchange:
http://russian.stackexchange.com/questions/1211/whats-the-difference-between-лежит-на-столе-and-стоит-на-столе

[an_alias]

Thank you. And I love the joke in that StackExchange thread!

[mosfet07]

Has it become clearer? ;)

[Nardoel]

Not a question of flatness I guess. I think стоит is used when the object has a top and a bottom part, and stands upright, whereas лежит means that it is not in the upright position. In other words the natural vertical axis of the object is more or less horizontal, as opposed to the "normal" position.

[an_alias]

As clear as mud :)

(evidently you can't reply below a certain level)

[annika_a]

It probably won't make it any clearer, or you any happier, but you find the same logic about things "standing" and "lying" (or even "sitting") in Dutch, which I can see you are also learning. You can just say "is", but it will sound more idiomatic if you learn which thing typically does which of these.

[servolock]

Отлично! Большое вам спасибо.

[mosfet07]

Большое :)
"Спасибо" acts as a noun and looks like a neuter here.

[madam_im_adam]

Would есть машина перед мостом work? It doesn't accept it but I don't really understand why.

[an_alias]

I'm still learning (a lot) but it seems like Russian wants more descriptive words than just "is" to describe the location/status of an object.

That's why you continually see words like:

находится (to be situated/located)

стоить (to stand)

лежать (to lie/lay)

in the Russian versions of the sentence even though, when you translate them to English, it accepts the simple "is".

Those descriptive words aren't used in English and literal translations from Russian would feel clunky. So, from Russian to English it changes to the simple "is" but from English to Russian you want to use the more descriptive terms.

I think...

Or maybe it's just a word order thing.

[madam_im_adam]

ah yeah i think youve got it, that makes a lot of sense. спасибо ))

[fishmael]

OMG how is this wrong? "там машина перед мостом"

[Neon_Iceberg]

These sentences are a bit different.

1) An example of using the sentence "перед мостом стоит машина":

look to the right you see the bridge, near the bridge there is a road, there is a car in front of the bridge, there is a man next to the car.

In this case, you just describe things near you.

2) An example of using the sentence "там машина перед мостом"

-- We're late to the airport, how can we get there fast?

-- Look - there's a car in front of the bridge, it is a taxi.

In this case you tell to the interlocutor - some object is there.

[an_alias]

I could be wrong, but I don't think "там" works like that. I'm not sure how to explain it but I think it's more like "Turn there [in that spot/at that location]" (очередь там) rather than "There is".

[Neon_Iceberg]

Yes, you are right - "turn there" is "поверни там", it is a correct case for "там"..

[Chamanit]

It should be possible to use находится in place of стоит as well...

[duolingoHepCat]

"Это машина перед мостом" was incorrect, but I don't understand why. Could a native Russian speaker please explain it to me?

[Neon_Iceberg]

Your choice would be "it is a car in front of the bridge."

Your sentece looks like the answer to the question:

What is it near the bridge? - "Что это рядом с мостом?"

"It is a car." - "Это машина"

"Это машина" means in Russian "This object is a car"

For examle:

"It is a table in the kitchen" - "Это стол на кухне"

"There is a table in the kitchen" - "Стол на кухне"

[duolingoHepCat]

Спасибо!

[Miami_14]

перед мостом есть машина - was marked wrong so "есть" cannot be used here