The Prepositional Case: Part 2

Nice to see you again! Let's proceed with the topic we started with last time. Today we will be talking about the prepositions that require this grammar case, the first one of which is the preposition "o".

Notionally, this preposition is connected with one of the main 'meanings' of the prepositional case - the topic, or an object, of something. That's why we use it (here it means 'about') with verbs like думать, размышлять, мечтать, помнить, вспоминать, говорить, рассказывать, объявлять, сообщать, писать, читать, спрашивать, петь, [у]слышать, узнать (as well as the corresponding nouns like мечта, воспоминание, разговор, рассказ, объявление, сообщение, письмо, вопрос, песня). We also use it with nouns which mean the object of one of those actions, like книга ("Я читаю/пишу книгу о Великой Отечественной войне"; by the way, the part of the World War II the USSR took part in is usually referred to as "Великая Отечественная война" in Russian literature and press) or мысль. There is at least one verb (and the corresponding noun) which you likely need and which has absolutely different meaning, though it's also used with the preposition "o" and the prepositional case ("Я забочусь о своём ребёнке, а Настя заботится о своих родителях".)

Another 'meaning' of the prepositional case, which is the location of something, can be expressed by either "в" or "на".  Dictionaries often give the following translation for them: "в" - in, "на" - "on". It's exact in obvious cases: "на коробке" is 'on the box', "в коробке" is 'in the box'. There are, however, some tricks here. The thing is, these prepositions are used not only in the cases when you'll use 'in' and 'on' speaking English. They're also used for 'at' in the meaning of location where someone or something is (was) or does (did) something (for example, 'at the university' will be translated as "в университете"). Here there is the exception alright. The exception is, if you're talking about a person you're at, you need a preposition "y" with the genitive (we'll be talking about this in several days). Here I'll just give you an example: 'at the doctor's' is "у доктора (у врача)".

So, let's get back to the prepositions "в" and "на". If we're talking about city objects, we normally use "в" with nouns meaning buildings (в доме, в школе, в университете etc.). The exceptions here are почта, завод, предприятие, фабрика, телевидение. We also say "на работе", that's the way you can remember the latter sequence. :) There is another funny thing: we say "в доме" for 'in the house', but "дома" for "[at] home".

The preposition "в" is also used (with some exceptions, though) with continents, lands (remember: на Украине), regions, cities and towns, districts etc. It's also used in the following combinations:

1) В пустыне, в джунглях, в поле, в лесу, в саду (but "на лугу");

2) В школе, в колледже, в университете, в классе (but "на факультете", "на пятом курсе");

3) В книге, в статье, в тетради, в блокноте (but "на странице").

You'll (likely) need the preposition "на" talking about planets, floors, islands, events ("на концерте", "на спектакле", but "в кино" - here we're talking about the cinema theater, also "на лекции", "на занятии", "на рыбалке", but "в экспедиции", that's the exception) as well as in the case of an image ("на картине", "на фотографии", "на снимке", "на рисунке", "на портрете"). A couple of  worlds from the IT world also requires "на": "работать на компьютере", "фотографии размещены на сайте/веб-странице", "на экране/мониторе".

Another funny story is water objects: rivers, lakes etc. So, we say "мы отдыхали на реке", but "в реке много рыбы". So, when we're talking about something that is directly in the water of it, we use "в". In other cases - "на". The same logic works also with vehicles: we say "я еду на машине", "я часто летаю на самолете", but "в автобусе я встретил Ольгу". So, if the main idea is that something happened inside the vehicle, we use "в", otherwise (normally, when someone is going by the vehicle) - "на".

Looks like it's all I wanted to tell you about the prepositional case (if I remember something else, I'll write about it, don't worry). До скорой встречи!