Я сушу одежду на балконе.

I am drying clothes on the balcony.

Breakdown of Я сушу одежду на балконе.

• я: I
• на: on
• балкон: the balcony
• одежда: the clothes
• сушить: to dry

Questions & Answers about Я сушу одежду на балконе.

Why is одежду in the accusative case and not in some other case?

Because одежду is the direct object of the verb сушу (“I dry”). In Russian, the direct object of a transitive verb normally takes the accusative case. The base form is одежда (nominative), and its accusative singular feminine ending -у shows that it’s being acted upon.

Why do we say на балконе (“on the balcony”) and not в балконе?

Russian prepositions for location follow certain rules:

• на
  • prepositional case is used for surfaces or open spaces (e.g. на столе, на улице, на балконе).
• в
  • prepositional case denotes being inside an enclosed space (e.g. в комнате, в шкафу).
    A balcony is treated like an open surface rather than an “inside” space, hence на балконе with the prepositional ending -е.

Is the verb сушу perfective or imperfective, and how does that affect its meaning?

Сушу is the present-tense form of the imperfective verb сушить (“to dry”). Imperfective verbs:

• Describe ongoing, habitual, or repeated actions (“I am drying,” “I usually dry”).
• You cannot use them in the future single (simple) form; instead, you’d say буду сушить (“I will be drying”).
  The perfective counterpart is высушить (“to dry completely”) or подсушить (“to dry partially”). Perfective verbs focus on the completion of an action and form a simple future (я высушу – “I will dry [it]”).

How do you conjugate сушить in the present tense?

Here are the present-tense forms of сушить (stress is on the first syllable in all forms except the infinitive):

• я су́шу
• ты су́шишь
• он/она су́шит
• мы су́шим
• вы су́шите
• они су́шат

Where is the stress in су́шу and балконе?

• су́шу: stress on the first syllable (SU-shu).
• балконе́: stress on the third syllable in the prepositional, pronounced bal-ko-NÉ.

Can I rearrange the word order? For example, На балконе я сушу одежду—is that correct?

Yes. Russian has fairly flexible word order. Moving на балконе to the front emphasizes the location:
На балконе я сушу одежду.
Still, the basic SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) order Я (субъект) сушу (глагол) одежду (объект) на балконе (обстоятельство места) is neutral.

Are there synonyms for сушить одежду you might see in everyday speech?

Yes. People sometimes say:

• развесить одежду на балконе – to hang out clothes to dry
• вывесить бельё – to hang laundry (бельё)
  Both emphasize the hanging action; сушить focuses on the drying process itself.

Why not use a dryer machine here—how would you say “I’m drying clothes in the dryer”?

You’d mention the machine and location:
Я сушу одежду в сушильной машине.
Here в + prepositional сушильной машине (“in the dryer machine”) shows you’re inside an enclosed appliance rather than out on the balcony.