Breakdown of Вчера мы смотрели комедию, и вся публика громко смеялась.
Questions & Answers about Вчера мы смотрели комедию, и вся публика громко смеялась.
In Russian, the usual verb for watching a movie / show / TV is смотреть + direct object in the accusative:
- смотреть фильм – to watch a film
- смотреть сериал – to watch a series
- смотреть комедию – to watch a comedy (film / show)
Using видеть (to see) would sound more like you just happened to see it, not that you sat down to watch it on purpose:
- Мы видели эту комедию. – We’ve seen this comedy (at some point).
And смотреть на комедию is wrong here; смотреть на means “to look at” something physically:
- смотреть на картину – to look at a painting
- смотреть на человека – to look at a person
So for movies, plays, shows etc., use смотреть with a direct object: смотреть комедию.
Both verbs are:
- Past tense
- Imperfective aspect
Details:
- смотрели – past, imperfective, plural
From смотреть (imperfective). It focuses on the process / duration: we were watching / we watched (as an activity). - смеялась – past, imperfective, feminine singular
From смеяться (imperfective). It also describes ongoing action: the audience was laughing / laughed (throughout).
If you used perfective here:
- мы посмотрели комедию – we watched (finished watching) a comedy
→ emphasizes that you completed the watching.
In this sentence, the point is what was going on during the movie: they were watching, and the audience was laughing; that’s why the imperfective is natural.
In Russian, публика is grammatically feminine singular, even though it refers to a group of people. With such collective nouns, the verb usually agrees in singular:
- публика смеялась – the audience laughed
- публика аплодировала – the audience applauded
So:
- публика смеялась ✅ (correct)
- публика смеялись ❌ (grammatically incorrect)
There are some collective-type nouns that sometimes allow plural agreement (like семья, народ in certain contexts), but публика is normally used with singular verb agreement.
Комедию is in the accusative singular case.
- Nominative: комедия (a comedy)
- Accusative: комедию (watch a comedy)
We use the accusative because комедию is the direct object of the verb смотрели (what did we watch? → a comedy).
For a feminine noun ending in -я, the accusative singular usually changes to -ю:
- история → историю (читать историю – to read a story)
- комедия → комедию (смотреть комедию – to watch a comedy)
Вся means all / the whole and emphasizes that the entire audience was laughing, not just some people.
- публика смеялась – the audience laughed
- вся публика смеялась – the whole audience laughed (everybody)
So вся adds a stronger, more vivid picture: everyone there laughed loudly.
Because we have two independent clauses, each with its own subject and verb:
- (Вчера) мы смотрели комедию – subject: мы, verb: смотрели
- (и) вся публика громко смеялась – subject: публика, verb: смеялась
In Russian, when и connects two full clauses with their own subjects, a comma is typically used:
- Он читал книгу, и она писала письмо.
So we write:
- Вчера мы смотрели комедию, и вся публика громко смеялась. ✅
Both orders are grammatically correct:
- вся публика громко смеялась
- вся публика смеялась громко
The difference is slight and mostly about rhythm and emphasis:
- громко смеялась
– more neutral; describes how they laughed as part of the verbal phrase. - смеялась громко
– can sound a bit more contrastive or emphatic on громко (laughing, and loudly in particular).
In ordinary speech, громко смеялась is very natural and maybe a bit smoother stylistically, but you can move the adverb after the verb without making it wrong.
Yes, you can omit мы:
- Вчера смотрели комедию.
Russian often drops pronouns when the subject is clear from context and from the verb ending. Смотрели (past, plural) already tells you that the subject is plural (“we/they/you plural”), so the listener will infer мы from context.
In the full sentence, including мы makes it explicit that we (not “they”) were watching the comedy. It’s especially clear because the second clause mentions публика, a different group.
Both refer to people watching something, but there is a nuance:
- публика – “the audience / the public” as a collective; a bit more general or literary.
- зрители – “(the) viewers / spectators” as individual people; more concrete.
In this sentence, вся публика громко смеялась paints a picture of the whole audience as a single group reacting together, which fits the idea of a collective laugh in a theater or cinema.
You could also say:
- … и все зрители громко смеялись. – and all the spectators laughed loudly.
That would be correct too, just slightly different stylistically.
Комедия in Russian is a genre word: “a comedy.” It can be:
- a film – комедийный фильм, комедия
- a play – театральная комедия
- sometimes a TV show of the comedy genre
Because of the verb смотрели (“watched”), most people would first imagine a movie or TV comedy. If it were a theater play, that would also be possible, especially from context (e.g., if you’d said you went to the theater).
вчера – [фчира]
- Stress on the second syllable: вчера
- Initial вч is pronounced almost like “fch”: the в is often devoiced.
смеялась – [смʲийа́лəsʲ]
- Stress on -я-: смея́лась
- The е in сме- is like “smy-”, and я is [йа]; -лась has a soft л and soft сь at the end.
They would change the meaning:
просмотрели комедию – sounds like “(we) went through / finished watching the comedy,” more about completion or sometimes even about “missing” something (просмотреть ошибку – to overlook a mistake). Not natural here for a neutral “we watched a comedy.”
посмеялись – perfective “had a laugh / laughed a bit.”
Вся публика посмеялась would imply the audience laughed (once, for a while, and that was it), focusing on the result, not the ongoing reaction during the film.
The original смотрели and смеялась describe the ongoing actions over time, which fits better with the idea of watching a comedy and laughing repeatedly throughout.