Questions & Answers about Магазин открывается в девять утра.
Why does the sentence use открывается with -ся, instead of just открывает or открыт?
Russian uses открываться (imperfective, reflexive) here to describe what happens by itself according to a schedule:
- Магазин открывается в девять утра.
Literally: The shop opens (itself) at nine in the morning.
→ Regular schedule, focus on the process / event that normally happens.
Compare:
Магазин открывает охранник в девять утра.
The guard opens the shop at nine in the morning.
Here открывает needs an explicit subject (охранник).Магазин открыт.
The shop is open.
This is a state, not the opening event.
So открывается is natural for “the shop opens (according to its schedule)” without naming who opens it.
Why is the present tense (открывается) used if we are talking about the future (nine in the morning)?