Соседка сердится, когда дети кричат под её окном.

The female neighbor gets angry when children shout under her window.

Breakdown of Соседка сердится, когда дети кричат под её окном.

• окно: the window
• когда: when
• под: under
• её: her
• ребёнок: the child
• соседка: the neighbor
• сердиться: to get angry
• кричать: to shout

Questions & Answers about Соседка сердится, когда дети кричат под её окном.

What does сосе́дка mean, and why is it not just сосе́д?

Сосе́д = neighbor (male neighbor, or neighbor in general if gender is unknown or irrelevant).
Сосе́дка = female neighbor.

The suffix -ка often makes a feminine noun from a masculine one:

• учени́к → учени́ца (pupil m. → pupil f.)
• вра́ч → (no regular feminine) but
• сосе́д → сосе́дка

In this sentence, the speaker either knows the neighbor is a woman or wants to emphasize that fact, so сосе́дка is used. In English, neighbor doesn’t show gender, but Russian usually does.

Why is it серди́тся and not something like серди́та or серди́тый?

There are two different things in Russian:

1. A verb of emotion: серди́ться – to be / get angry

   • Она серди́тся. – She is getting angry / she gets angry.

2. An adjective: серди́тый (full form) / серди́та (short form fem.) – angry

   • Она серди́та. – She is angry (right now as a state).
   • Она серди́тая. – She is an angry person (characteristic).

In the sentence:

Сосе́дка серди́тся, когда де́ти крича́т под её окно́м.

we describe what she does whenever the children shout: she gets angry (a reaction, a repeated action), so Russian naturally uses the verb серди́тся, not the adjective серди́та.

What is the infinitive of серди́тся, and what is the purpose of -ся at the end?

The infinitive is серди́ться (to be/get angry).

The -ся (or -сь after a vowel) is the reflexive ending. Many Russian verbs of feelings and inner states are reflexive:

• смея́ться – to laugh
• бояться́ – to be afraid
• серди́ться – to be/get angry
• зли́ться – to be/get mad

Historically, reflexive verbs often meant something like “do something to oneself,” but in modern Russian, for emotions it’s just part of the verb’s normal form. You can’t say она сердит; it must be она серди́тся.

What’s the difference between серди́ться and зли́ться? Could we say Соседка злится… here?

Both mean “to be angry,” but there is a nuance:

• серди́ться – to be cross, annoyed, angry; can be milder or more everyday.
• зли́ться – often stronger, to be mad, furious.

In this sentence, both are grammatically possible:

• Сосе́дка серди́тся… – She gets annoyed / angry.
• Сосе́дка зли́тся… – She gets really mad.

By default, серди́ться sounds a bit softer and slightly more neutral; зли́ться can suggest stronger irritation or temper, depending on context and intonation.

Why are both verbs in the present tense: серди́тся and крича́т, even though in English we might say “gets angry when the children shout”?

In Russian, the present tense is used very naturally for:

• general truths / habits / regular reactions.

So:

Сосе́дка серди́тся, когда де́ти крича́т под её окно́м.

literally: The neighbor is angry when the children are shouting under her window — but the meaning is She gets angry whenever the children shout under her window.

Present + когда́ very often corresponds to English “when(ever) …” in the sense of a repeated situation.

Future would change the meaning:

• Сосе́дка бу́дет серди́ться, когда де́ти закрича́т. – She will get angry when the children (first) start shouting. (a specific future event)

Why is it де́ти and not something like де́ты or ребёнки?

Де́ти is an irregular word:

• singular (archaic / poetic): дитя́ – child
• plural: де́ти – children

In everyday language, people usually say:

• ребёнок – a child
• де́ти – children (plural of ребёнок in meaning, although not morphologically)

There is no form де́ты or ребёнки in normal standard Russian.

In this sentence де́ти is:

• nominative plural,
• the subject of the verb крича́т (children are the ones shouting).

How do we get the form крича́т from крича́ть? Why not кричают?

The infinitive is крича́ть – to shout, yell, scream.

Present tense conjugation (imperfective, 1st conjugation):

• я кричу́
• ты кричи́шь
• он/она кричи́т
• мы кричи́м
• вы кричи́те
• они́ крича́т

So for они́ (they), the correct form is крича́т, not кричают. There is no extra -ю- here.

Stress: крича́т (last syllable).

Why is it под её окно́м with окно́м (instrumental), not под её окно́ (accusative)?

The preposition под (“under, below”) can take two cases:

1. Instrumental (под + Tворительный)
   → static location: where?

   • под её окно́м – under her window (they are there, not moving)
   • под столо́м – under the table

2. Accusative (под + Винительный)
   → direction / motion: to where?

   • Он пошёл под её окно́. – He went (to a position) under her window.
   • Кошка прыгну́ла под стол. – The cat jumped under the table.

In your sentence, the children are already located under the window while shouting, so под её окно́м (instrumental) is correct.

Could we say под своим окно́м instead of под её окно́м? What is the difference between её and своим here?

Grammatically, both are possible:

• под её окно́м – under her window
• под свои́м окно́м – under her own window

Difference:

• её – ordinary possessive pronoun “her.” It just tells us whose window it is.
• свои́м – reflexive possessive; it refers back to the subject of the sentence (here, сосе́дка).

So:

Сосе́дка серди́тся, когда де́ти крича́т под свои́м окно́м.

also means the window belongs to сосе́дка. This variant slightly emphasizes that it is her own window (not, for example, someone else’s).

In everyday speech, под её окно́м is very common and natural; под свои́м окно́м is also correct but has a subtle “her own” flavor.

Why is there a comma before когда́?

Because когда́ introduces a subordinate clause of time (“when…”). In Russian, such clauses are normally separated by a comma.

Structure:

• Main clause: Сосе́дка серди́тся – The neighbor gets angry
• Subordinate clause: когда́ де́ти крича́т под её окно́м – when the children shout under her window

Rule:
“Main clause , когда́ + subordinate clause” → we put a comma before когда́.

If you reverse the order, you also use a comma:

• Когда́ де́ти крича́т под её окно́м, сосе́дка серди́тся.

Can we change the word order to Когда дети кричат под её окном, соседка сердится? Does the meaning change?

Yes, that word order is completely correct:

Когда́ де́ти крича́т под её окно́м, сосе́дка серди́тся.

The basic meaning is the same: When(ever) the children shout under her window, the neighbor gets angry.

Difference is mainly in information structure and intonation:

• Сосе́дка серди́тся, когда́ де́ти крича́т…
  Starts with the neighbor and her reaction, then adds the condition.
• Когда́ де́ти крича́т под её окно́м, сосе́дка серди́тся.
  Starts with the condition and then tells the result.

Both are neutral and common; use whichever order better fits what you want to emphasize first.

How should I pronounce the stressed syllables in this sentence?

Stresses (marked with ´):

• Сосе́дка – soSÉDka (stress on се́)
• серди́тся – serDÉÉtsa (stress on ди́)
• когда́ – kogDÁ
• де́ти – DÉti
• крича́т – kriCHÁT
• под – no alternative stress; it’s just pod
• её – yeYÓ (stress on the second syllable)
• окно́м – okNÓM

Putting it together (stressed syllables in caps):

сосЕдка сердИтся, когдА дЕти кричАТ под еЁ окнОМ.

Is серди́тся describing a temporary state or a habit here?

Because it’s combined with когда́ and a present-tense description of a repeated situation (де́ти крича́т), серди́тся here is habitual / regular:

• She tends to get angry whenever the children shout under her window.

If you wanted a one-time, current state, you’d more often use context like:

• Сосе́дка сейча́с серди́тся. – The neighbor is angry right now.
• Or an adjective: Сосе́дка сейча́с серди́та. – She is angry (in this moment).