Стиральная машина работает тихо.

The washing machine works quietly.

Breakdown of Стиральная машина работает тихо.

• тихо: quietly
• работать: to work
• стиральная машина: the washing machine

Questions & Answers about Стиральная машина работает тихо.

What part of speech is стиральная in стиральная машина, and how is it formed?

Стиральная is an adjective (specifically an adjectival form derived from the verb стирать, “to wash”). It agrees in gender, number, and case with машина (feminine, singular, nominative). Morphologically, you have the root стир- plus the suffix -альн- and the ending -ая, giving the meaning “for washing.”

Why is стиральная машина in the nominative case?

Because стиральная машина is the subject of the sentence. In Russian, subjects are typically in the nominative. Here the machine is doing the action (работает), so it stays in its base (nominative) form.

What is the form of работает (tense, aspect, person, number)?

Работает is the 3rd person singular, present tense of работать (“to work/operate”). The verb is imperfective aspect, meaning it describes an ongoing or habitual action. In present tense Russian verbs don’t show gender, only person and number.

Why isn’t there a subject pronoun like она before работает?

Russian is a “pro-drop” language: subject pronouns are optional when the verb ending already indicates person and number. You could say Она работает тихо, but it’s redundant because работает already means “(she/it) works.”

Why is тихо used instead of тихий to mean “quietly”?

Тихо is an adverb, so it modifies the verb работает. Тихий is an adjective and would only describe a noun (e.g., тихая комната “a quiet room”). To describe how something operates, you need an adverb.

Where is the stress in стиральная машина работает тихо?

• стиральная: second syllable (sti-RAL-na-ya)
• машина: second syllable (ma-SHI-na)
• работает: third syllable (ra-bo-TA-et)
• тихо: first syllable (TI-kho)

Could the word order change, for example тихо работает стиральная машина? What would that imply?

Yes. Russian word order is relatively flexible.
• Стиральная машина работает тихо is neutral: “The washing machine works quietly.”
• Тихо работает стиральная машина shifts focus onto how quietly it works, maybe in contrast to something else.
• Стиральная машина тихо работает is also possible and feels slightly more colloquial or emphatic on “works.”
The basic meaning stays the same; you only tweak emphasis.

Why do we use работает for machines instead of something like ходит or бегает?

In Russian, работать is the general verb for “to run” or “to function” when talking about most appliances or electronics. You might hear часы ходят (“clocks run”) because clocks use ходить historically, but washing machines, computers, cars, etc., typically работают.