Администратор спокойно объясняет правило.

The administrator calmly explains the rule.

Breakdown of Администратор спокойно объясняет правило.

• правило: the rule
• объяснять: to explain
• спокойно: calmly
• администратор: the receptionist

Questions & Answers about Администратор спокойно объясняет правило.

What is the grammatical role and form of each word in Администратор спокойно объясняет правило?

• Администратор – noun, masculine, singular, nominative case; it is the subject (“the administrator”).
• спокойно – adverb, formed from the adjective спокойный; it describes how the action is done (“calmly, in a calm way”).
• объясняет – verb, 3rd person, singular, present tense, imperfective aspect; from объяснять (“to explain”).
• правило – noun, neuter, singular; here it is in the accusative case functioning as the direct object (“the rule”).
  For neuter nouns, nominative and accusative singular look the same, so the role is understood from context and word order.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before administrator or rule?

Russian has no articles like “the” or “a/an”.
So администратор can mean “an administrator” or “the administrator”, and правило can mean “a rule” or “the rule”.
The choice between “the” and “a” in English is determined by context, not by any specific word in Russian.

Why is the verb объясняет and not some other form like объясняют or объясняю?

Объясняет is the 3rd person singular form, which matches the subject администратор (he/she/it):

• я объясняю – I explain
• ты объясняешь – you (sg.) explain
• он/она/оно объясняет – he/she/it explains
• мы объясняем – we explain
• вы объясняете – you (pl./formal) explain
• они объясняют – they explain

Because администратор is one person, we use он объясняет (he explains), and since the noun is explicitly there, just объясняет is used.

Why is it объясняет and not объяснит? What’s the difference between объяснять and объяснить?

• Объяснять – imperfective verb: to explain as a process, repeated action, or something in progress.

  • Администратор объясняет правило. – The administrator is (in the process of) explaining / explains the rule.

• Объяснить – perfective verb: to explain as a completed single action, focusing on the result.

  • Администратор объяснит правило. – The administrator will explain the rule (and finish explaining).

In the present tense, Russian normally uses only the imperfective form. The perfective present usually has future meaning. So объясняет = present; объяснит = (simple) future.

Why is правило in this form, and how do we know it’s the object (accusative case)?

Правило is a neuter noun of the type ending in -о:

• Nominative singular: правило
• Accusative singular: правило (same form as nominative for neuter)

In this sentence:

• Администратор comes first and matches the verb (3rd person singular), so it is the subject.
• The verb объяснять normally takes a direct object in the accusative: объяснять что? – правило.

So even though правило looks identical in nominative and accusative, its syntactic role and the typical verb pattern tell us it is accusative (the thing being explained).

Why is it спокойно and not спокойный or спокойная?

• Спокойный, спокойная, спокойное are adjectives (“calm” as a quality of a noun):

  • спокойный человек – a calm person
  • спокойная музыка – calm music

• Спокойно is an adverb (“calmly”), describing how the action is done:

  • говорить спокойно – to speak calmly
  • объяснять спокойно – to explain calmly

Since спокойно is modifying the verb объясняет, the adverb form is required, not the adjective.

Can the word order change? For example, can we say Администратор объясняет правило спокойно?

Yes, Russian word order is more flexible than English. You can say:

• Администратор спокойно объясняет правило. – neutral; slight emphasis on the manner (calmly).
• Администратор объясняет правило спокойно. – also possible; can sound like you’re adding “calmly” as extra information at the end.

Other orders are possible but may sound more marked or poetic, or change focus:

• Спокойно администратор объясняет правило. – “Calmly, the administrator explains the rule,” with stronger emphasis on спокойно.
• Правило спокойно объясняет администратор. – Focuses on who explains the rule: it is the administrator (not someone else).

The given sentence is the most neutral and typical in everyday speech.

Why don’t we use the reflexive form объясняется here?

Объяснять(ся) vs объясняться:

• Объяснять правило – “to explain the rule” (someone actively explains it).
• Правило объясняется – “The rule is explained” / “The rule explains itself / gets explained” (passive/reflexive meaning).

The original sentence says who is doing the explaining (администратор) and what he is explaining (правило). That is an active construction, so we use объясняет, not the reflexive объясняется.

How would this sentence change if the administrator is specifically a woman? Is there a feminine form?

In standard contemporary Russian, администратор is commonly used for both men and women. Context or additional words show the gender:

• Администратор спокойно объясняет правило. Она очень вежливая. – “The administrator calmly explains the rule. She is very polite.”

There are feminine forms like администраторша or администраторка, but they can sound:

• colloquial,
• sometimes slightly informal or even dismissive,
  depending on context and region.

In neutral, professional speech, администратор is the usual form for any gender.

Does объясняет mean “explains” or “is explaining”? How do you say the continuous aspect in Russian?

Russian does not have a separate continuous tense like English (“is explaining”). The present imperfective can cover both:

• Администратор спокойно объясняет правило.
  
  • “The administrator explains the rule.” (habitual / general)
  • “The administrator is explaining the rule (right now).”

Which English tense you choose depends on context, not on a different Russian form. If you really want to emphasize “right now,” you might add a time word:

• Сейчас администратор спокойно объясняет правило. – “Right now the administrator is calmly explaining the rule.”

How should I pronounce объясняет and спокойно? Anything tricky?

Yes, there are a couple of pronunciation points:

• объясняет:

  • Stress: объяснЯет
  • The group объясн- is often pronounced quickly; the б may sound weak or almost blend with the following consonant.

• спокойно:

  • Stress: спокОйно
  • The й sound is important: like “spah-KOY-nah.”
  • The first о (спо-) is in a pre‑stress position and is reduced in fast speech (closer to “спакОйна”).

Getting the stress right (объяснЯет, спокОйно, правилО) is key for sounding natural.