Learn Hardcore Russian: Он улыбается, словно ребёнок получил подарок. - He is smiling as if a child has received a gift.

Person and number:
- 3rd person singular – он/она/оно улыбается = he/she/it is smiling.
Present tense:
- The action is happening now or is generally true.
Reflexive form (-ся / -сь):
- улыбаться is a reflexive verb because of the -ся. It often indicates an action directed at oneself or a “middle” action (smiling, washing oneself, getting dressed, etc.).
- The infinitive is улыбаться, and in 3rd person singular the ending becomes улыбается.

So улыбается = is smiling (he/she/it), present tense, reflexive verb.

Why is улыбается reflexive? In English we just say he smiles, not he smiles himself.

In Russian, many “body-related” and emotional actions are naturally reflexive, even though English doesn’t use a reflexive pronoun:

улыбаться – to smile
смеяться – to laugh
мыться – to wash oneself
одеваться – to get dressed

Historically, the reflexive -ся often meant the action “turns back” onto the subject, but in modern Russian with verbs like улыбаться it mostly just means “this is how we say this verb”. It’s a normal dictionary form, not something you can just drop.

You can't say он улыбает to mean he smiles; you must say он улыбается.

Is улыбаться imperfective or perfective? How would I say he smiled (finished action)?

Улыбаться is imperfective. It describes a process or repeated action:

Он улыбается. – He is smiling / he smiles.

The usual perfective partner is улыбнуться (to smile once, to give a smile):

Он улыбнулся. – He smiled (at that moment, once, completed).

So:

Present / ongoing: Он улыбается.
Past, completed single act: Он улыбнулся.

Why is the main verb present (улыбается) but the second verb is past (получил)?

Russian does not have a strict “sequence of tenses” rule like English. Each verb chooses its tense based on the time of its own action, not on the tense of the main verb.

In this sentence:

Он улыбается – his smiling is happening now.
словно ребёнок получил подарок – he smiles as if a child has received a present (the receiving is already complete and is the cause of the child’s joy).

So получил (past perfective) matches the idea of a finished event that produces a visible result (joy). Russian happily combines улыбается (present) with получил (past) when that makes sense logically.

Could we say словно ребёнок получает подарок instead of получил? What would be the difference?

You can say:

Он улыбается, словно ребёнок получает подарок.

But the nuance changes:

получил (past perfective) – the child has already received the present; the event is complete, and now we see the result (the happy smile).
получает (present imperfective) – the child is in the process of receiving the present right now.

In practice, for the idea “he smiles like a child who has just got a present”, the completed action получил sounds more natural, because we imagine the child’s face after getting the gift.

What exactly does словно mean? How is it different from как and как будто?

словно is a conjunction meaning roughly as if or like.

In this context:

Он улыбается, словно ребёнок получил подарок.
– He is smiling as if a child has received a present.

Comparison words you might see:

как – like / as
- Он улыбается, как ребёнок. – He smiles like a child.
как будто – as if / as though
- Он улыбается, как будто ребёнок получил подарок.
словно – stylistically similar to как будто, often a bit more literary or expressive:
- Он улыбается, словно ребёнок получил подарок.

In meaning, словно and как будто are very close here; both introduce a comparison that may be figurative, not literally true.

Do we always need a comma before словно in sentences like this?

When словно introduces a full clause (with its own verb), you normally use a comma:

Он улыбается, словно ребёнок получил подарок.

Here ребёнок получил подарок is a separate clause, so the comma is standard.

However, when словно is used in a fixed comparison with just a word or short phrase and the whole thing is very tightly connected, Russians sometimes omit the comma, especially in more informal or poetic style. Example:

Он побледнел словно мел. – He turned pale like chalk.

But in your sentence, there is a full clause after словно, so the comma is expected.

Why is ребёнок in the nominative case?

Ребёнок is the subject of the subordinate clause:

(кто?) ребёнок – ребёнок
что сделал? получил – получил
что? подарок – подарок

So inside that clause:

ребёнок – nominative singular (subject)
получил – past tense verb
подарок – accusative singular (direct object)

The fact that it’s in a subordinate clause after словно doesn’t change the basic roles: subject is nominative.

What case is подарок in, and why?

Подарок is in the accusative case, used for the direct object of a transitive verb:

Verb: получил – received
What did he receive? (что?) подарок – accusative

For inanimate masculine nouns like подарок, the accusative form is the same as the nominative:

Nominative: подарок
Accusative: подарок

So it doesn’t change in form, but grammatically it’s accusative.

Why don’t we use the instrumental, like словно ребёнком получил подарок?

In Russian, there are two different patterns:

Comparison with a clause introduced by словно / как будто / как:
- Он улыбается, словно ребёнок получил подарок.
  Here ребёнок is the subject of its own clause. No instrumental.
Simple comparison with a noun phrase, often using the instrumental:
- Он улыбается ребёнком. – very unusual/poetic, not normal here.
- More natural: Он улыбается как ребёнок. (no instrumental) – He smiles like a child.

Instrumental is common in patterns like быть кем? / чем?, стать кем? / чем?, or certain predicate constructions, but here you are comparing his smile to a situation (a child has received a gift), so a subordinate clause with nominative subject is used, not an instrumental phrase.

How would the sentence change if the subject were feminine or plural?

Change the main verb (and possibly pronoun); the subordinate clause can stay the same unless you want to change the “child” too.

Feminine singular:

Она улыбается, словно ребёнок получил подарок.
– She is smiling as if a child has received a present.

Plural:

Они улыбаются, словно ребёнок получил подарок.
– They are smiling as if a child has received a present.

If you also want the child to be plural (children have received a present), then change that clause too:

Они улыбаются, словно дети получили подарок.
– They are smiling as if children have received a present.

Can I drop the pronoun он and just say Улыбается, словно ребёнок получил подарок?

Yes, you can. Russian often omits subject pronouns when they are clear from context:

(Он) улыбается, словно ребёнок получил подарок.

In writing, this is common in dialogues or when the subject has already been mentioned. On its own, without context, it’s less clear who is smiling, but grammatically it’s fine.

What’s the difference between Он улыбается and Он смеётся in this context?

Он улыбается. – He is smiling.
Focus on a quiet, gentle facial expression.
Он смеётся. – He is laughing.
Suggests sound, more active, maybe louder.

In your sentence:

Он улыбается, словно ребёнок получил подарок.
Suggests a warm, happy smile (not necessarily laughter).

You could say:

Он смеётся, словно ребёнок получил подарок.
– He is laughing as if a child has received a present.
That would picture him actually laughing, maybe with joy or excitement.

How would I say “He smiles like a child when he receives a present” (a repeated/habitual situation)?

You’d make both parts more general/habitual:

Он улыбается, как ребёнок, когда получает подарок.

Breakdown:

Он улыбается – he smiles (generally).
как ребёнок – like a child.
когда получает подарок – when he receives a present (imperfective получает for repeated action).

The original sentence with словно ребёнок получил подарок sounds like a one-time comparison to the typical reaction of a child who has just received a gift.

How are the stressed syllables and pronunciation in улыбается, словно, ребёнок, подарок?

Stress and rough pronunciation:

улыба́ется – stress on ба́: u-ly-BA-ye-tsa
- у as in put, ы is the Russian hard i-like sound.
сло́вно – stress on сло́: SLOV-no
- о under stress like o in sort (but shorter); вн pronounced together.
ребё́нок – stress on бё́: ree-BYO-nak
- ё is always stressed and pronounced yo.
пода́рок – stress on да́: pa-DA-rok
- Unstressed о often sounds like a in normal speech.

Remember: the letter ё is always pronounced yo and always stressed, even when printed as е in some texts (e.g. ребенок instead of ребёнок).