Я не уверен, началась ли уже посадка.

I'm not sure whether boarding has already started.

Breakdown of Я не уверен, началась ли уже посадка.

• я: I
• не: not
• уже: already
• ли: whether
• начаться: to start
• посадка: the boarding
• уверен: sure

Questions & Answers about Я не уверен, началась ли уже посадка.

Why do we use ли here, and what does it mean?

Ли is a particle used to introduce a yes/no indirect question (an embedded “whether/if” question).

• Я не уверен, началась ли уже посадка.
  = I’m not sure *whether boarding has already started.*

In English, we use whether / if to show that the question is yes/no. In Russian, inside another clause, ли does this job.

You cannot translate ли itself as a separate word like “whether” in most contexts; it’s more like a grammatical marker that tells you: “Inside this clause, there is a yes/no question.”

Where does ли go in the sentence? Why is it after the verb?

Ли always comes immediately after the word it belongs to, and that word is usually the one you’re questioning or focusing on.

In началась ли уже посадка:

• In a normal statement, you’d say: посадка уже началась (boarding has already started).
• For an embedded yes/no question, Russian typically puts the verb first, then ли, then the rest:
  • началась ли уже посадка = whether boarding has already started.

So the pattern here is:

• Statement: посадка уже началась
• Embedded question: началась ли уже посадка

You generally don’t say: ли началась уже посадка or уже ли началась посадка — that sounds wrong or at least very unnatural.

Why is it началась (past tense) and not something like a present tense?

Russian doesn’t have a present perfect (“has started”) like English. Instead, it uses past tense of a perfective verb to express that something has started/been completed by now.

• началась is:
  • past tense
  • perfective aspect
  • feminine (agreeing with посадка)

So началась here corresponds to English “has started” (not just simple past “started”).

Я не уверен, началась ли уже посадка.
≈ I’m not sure whether boarding *has already started.*

What does the -сь at the end of началась do?

The -сь is the reflexive ending (historically -ся, pronounced -са after a consonant, -сь after a vowel/soft sign). It often makes a verb:

• intransitive (no direct object)
• “middle” or passive-like (“the action happens to the subject itself”)

Compare:

• начать посадку – to start (something), transitive
• посадка началась – boarding started / has begun (the boarding itself begins)

So начаться (perfective) / начинаться (imperfective) ≈ to begin, with the thing that begins as the subject:

• Фильм начался. – The movie has started.
• Посадка началась. – Boarding has started.

Why is it началАсь and not something like началСЯ?

Russian past tense forms agree with the gender and number of the subject (in singular).

• посадка is feminine (like most nouns ending in -а/-я).
• Therefore the verb in past tense must also be feminine:
  • она началась (she/it started) → посадка началась

If the noun were masculine:

• рейс (flight) – masculine
  Рейс начался. – The flight has started.

Neuter:

• шоу – neuter
  Шоу началось. – The show has started.

Plural:

• рейсы начались. – The flights have started.

Why is уже in the middle: началась ли уже посадка? Can I move it?

Уже (“already”) is quite flexible, but there are natural positions and weird ones.

Neutral/normal options:

• посадка уже началась – normal statement word order
• началась ли уже посадка – normal embedded-question order

You could also say:

• уже началась посадка? – as a direct question, with special intonation.

But in this embedded clause, typical word orders are:

• началась ли уже посадка (very natural)
• уже ли началась посадка – sounds unnatural/wrong;
• началась уже ли посадка – wrong.

So: уже can move a bit, but in ли-clauses you almost always keep the verb + ли together, and fit уже around that in a natural place, as in the original sentence.

Could I say Я не уверен, что посадка уже началась instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say that, and it’s grammatically correct:

• Я не уверен, что посадка уже началась.
  Literally: I’m not sure that boarding has already started.

Nuance:

• ли: emphasizes the yes/no uncertainty – whether it has or hasn’t.
  • Я не уверен, началась ли уже посадка.
    → I don’t know if it has started yet or not.
• что: just introduces the content of what you’re not sure about, more like:
  • I’m not convinced that boarding has already started.
    (The default assumption may be that it hasn’t, but you’re open.)

In everyday speech, many people don’t feel a strong difference; both are natural. Ли sounds a bit more “cleanly” like an embedded yes/no question.

Can I drop я and just say Не уверен, началась ли уже посадка?

Yes. That’s quite common in spoken and informal written Russian:

• Не уверен, началась ли уже посадка.

It’s like English:

• Not sure if boarding has already started.

The subject я is understood from context. This sounds a bit colloquial or casual, but it’s very natural.

Why is there a comma before началась ли уже посадка?

Because началась ли уже посадка is a subordinate clause (an embedded question) that depends on Я не уверен.

Structure:

• Main clause: Я не уверен – I’m not sure
• Subordinate clause: началась ли уже посадка – whether boarding has already started

Russian normally separates such clauses with a comma:

• Я не знаю, придёт ли он. – I don’t know whether he will come.
• Я сомневаюсь, успеем ли мы. – I doubt whether we will make it in time.
• Я не уверен, началась ли уже посадка. – I’m not sure whether boarding has already started.

How would I ask this as a direct question to someone at the gate?

Some natural direct questions:

• Посадка уже началась? – Has boarding already started?
• Уже началась посадка? – Same meaning, slightly different emphasis.
• Посадка уже идёт? – Is boarding already going on?
• More polite/formal:
  • Подскажите, пожалуйста, посадка уже началась?
    (“Could you tell me, has boarding already started?”)

Notice that in a direct yes/no question, Russian doesn’t need “ли”; intonation usually does the job. Ли is more typical in embedded questions or special stylistic cases.

What exactly does посадка mean here?

In this context, посадка means “boarding” (getting passengers onto a plane, train, bus, etc.).

The noun посадка can mean:

1. Boarding (in transport):
   • посадка на рейс – boarding for the flight
2. Landing (of a plane), in some contexts:
   • посадка самолёта – the landing of an airplane
3. Planting (of plants):
   • посадка картофеля – planting potatoes

In your sentence, with an airport / flight context, it’s boarding.

Is уверен an adjective? Why not уверенный?

Уверен is the short-form adjective of уверенный.

• Full form: уверенный
  • уверенный человек – a confident person
• Short form: уверен / уверена / уверены
  • Я уверен. – I’m sure. (male speaker)
  • Я не уверена. – I’m not sure. (female speaker)

Short-form adjectives are mostly used predicatively (after “to be” in English sense), like:

• Я не уверен. – I’m not sure.
• Он был уверен. – He was sure.

So in your sentence:

• Я не уверен, … – I’m not sure (male speaker)
• A woman would usually say: Я не уверена, началась ли уже посадка.

Can ли mean “or” like либо? Are ли and либо related?

They look similar but function differently.

• ли – particle for yes/no questions (often embedded):

  • Я не знаю, придёт ли он. – I don’t know whether he will come.

• либо – conjunction/adverb related to “or / either … or / any / whatever”:

  • или … или … / либо … либо … – either … or …
  • в любой день, когда-либо – sometime, ever

There is a historical connection, but for a learner it’s best to treat them as different words:

• Use ли for whether/if in embedded yes/no questions.
• Use или/либо for or / either-or / ever-type meanings.

They are not interchangeable in your sentence; либо would be wrong there.