stoyat

Stoyat is the transliteration of the Russian infinitive стоять, a verb meaning "to stand" or "to be in a standing position." It is an intransitive verb used for physical posture as well as for locations and various idiomatic expressions. In addition to the literal sense, стоять is used in phrases describing how objects are placed or located, for example, a building standing on a hill or statues standing in a square.

Etymology and related forms: стоять comes from Old East Slavic стояти and is cognate with related Slavic verbs such as Polish stać and Ukrainian стояти. The stem forms change with tense and mood, following standard Russian conjugation patterns for imperfective verbs.

Conjugation overview: The verb is imperfective. In the present tense, the forms are: я стою, ты стоишь, он/она стоит, мы стоим, вы стоите, они стоят. The past tense inflects for gender and number: он стоял, она стояла, оно стояло, они стояли. The imperative is стой (singular) or стойте (plural/formal). A common perfective counterpart is postoyat with the meaning “to stand for a while” or “to stand up for a moment,” whose future forms are used instead of a present tense: я постою, ты постоишь, он постоит, мы постоим, вы постоят.

Usage and senses: Стоять can denote a physical posture, permanence in a location (the house stands on a hill), or action in progress (to stand in line: стоять в очереди). It also appears in idioms such as стоять на своём (to stand one's ground) and other expressions describing duration or endurance.

Examples: Он стоит у окна. (He is standing by the window.) Мы стоим в очереди. (We are standing in line.) Постоять в очереди было трудно. (To stand in line for a while was difficult.)

See also: Стоять (the Russian verb) for broader usage and variations, including idiomatic expressions and prefixes that modify meaning.