"The lamp is on the desk."

Translation: Lampa stoi na biurku.

[peter138415]

I thought Stoi means standing and yet the word standing was not part of the sentence but Stoi was part of the conversation??

[PatriceLeB9]

I agree, confused!

[AnnFabiszakPayne]

The correct answer is also Lampa jest na biurku. why biurku and not biurka. Biurko is neutral why does it get the masc. genitive ending instead of the neutral genitive ending?

[Emwue]

Genitive of "biurko" is indeed "biurka", but preposition "na" when specifying location(which is the situation here) requires locative case.

[AnnFabiszakPayne]

Yes, thank you

[wilderBoar]

Is there a reason why 'Lampa leży na biurku' is not accepted?
Is it some sort of rule, that a lamp is always described as 'standing', or could it also be 'lying' depending on the how the object is situated?

[Jellei]

Yes, it denotes the way it is situated. We generally want the lamp to be 'standing', if it's lying then it probably means it was knocked over. Okay, that's not the only context, but still. It isn't placed as it should be.

So perhaps we should leave "Lampa leży na biurku" for the explicit "The lamp is lying on the desk", because that really needs some more context.

[IvesAB]

I see that two possible options are lampa jest na biurku and lampa stoi na biurku. Which one sounds more natural/common for native poles?

[Jellei]

Unlike in English, where just 'being' somewhere is almost always the only natural answer, Polish can go with just "jest" or it can state the lamp's position. I think both versions seem natural to me.

[SylwiaCzf]

lampa jest na biurku

[Jellei]

To akceptowana odpowiedź.

[TAJPRU]

If you include the word 'stoi' in the sentence it should translate 'the lamp stands on the desk' not just 'the lamp is on the desk'

[alik1989]

"The lamp is on the desk" is the most natural English translation. "The lamp stands..." is also accepted, so there is really nothing to complain about here.