на vs в

[cle-fable.livejournal.com]

I'm going over the locative case to be in or at a place.  As a general rule на denotes open spaces and в denotes enclosed spaces. 

You would think then that it should be на парке but I think actually it's в парке.  Why is that?

Also is it в or на кино?

Comments

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

It's в парке, because a park is, theoretically, inclosed in its boundaries with a fence or a wall; I cannot think of a better explanation :) Speaking seriously, it probably inherits the pattern from в лесу, в поле etc. Note that в реке means "in the water of a river," while на реке means "at a river" (either on its surface, like in на реке видно много лодок "we can see many boats in the river", or on the riverside, like in я провёл два часа на реке, загорал и плавал "I spend two hours at the river taking sunbaths and swimming.")

It's в кино (either "in the movies" - такую погоню можно увидеть только в кино, "such a chase can be seen only in the movies" - or "at a cinema theatre").

[pinky-the-cow.livejournal.com]

It's a really strange "general rule", if you ask me, hmm. I've never thought of it this way.
After all, the correct expressions are "в открытом космосе" and "на подземной автостоянке" (in outer space and in underground parking respectively).

I think it's actually has to do more with the patterns of suggested interrelations between objects, rather than openness/closedness of the locations.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Yes, just like many other "general rules" in Russian, this one is quite not too general. You still have to memorize a good deal.

[david-us.livejournal.com]

Would this sentence be correct, then?

Игроки уже на поле.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Absolutely; moreover, the opposite (игроки уже в поле) would be completely incorrect. But if we'd be speaking about workers in the field, both "работники уже в поле" and "работники уже на поле" would be more or less OK -- but only to a point: the first version would generally mean that they have already left homes for work, while the second would mean that they have already entered _this exact_ field, not just any field.