Learn Hardcore Russian: Я не сразу заметил это объявление, и учитель же удивился, почему меня не было. - I didn’t notice this notice right away, and the teacher, of course, was surprised why I wasn’t there.

If you remove it (и учитель удивился), the sentence is more neutral: just a plain fact with less expressive flavor. Grammatically, both are fine; же is optional, but it changes the tone.

Why do we say почему меня не было instead of почему я не был?

Both are grammatically possible, but they are used differently:

Меня не было (в школе / на уроке) literally: “There was no me (at school / in class)” → idiomatic meaning: “I wasn’t there / I was absent.”
- Very common in the context of attendance / presence.
Я не был (в школе / на уроке) literally: “I was not (at school / in class).”
- Also correct, but a bit more neutral, slightly more formal or “bookish” in this context.
- Я не был is more often used with states or experiences:
  - Я не был голоден – I wasn’t hungry.
  - Я не был в Москве – I haven’t been to Moscow.

In talk about why someone didn’t attend something, Russian strongly prefers меня не было:

Учитель удивился, почему меня не было ≈ “The teacher was surprised why I wasn’t there / why I was absent.”

Why is меня in the genitive case after не было?

This is the “genitive of absence / negation” with the verb быть in an existential meaning (“there is / there was”).

Affirmative: Я был в школе – I was at school. (nominative я)
Negative existential: Меня не было в школе – I wasn’t (there) at school, literally “There was not me at school.” (genitive меня)

In sentences like:

Здесь никого не было. – There was nobody here.
На уроке не было Пети. – Petya wasn’t in class.

The person/thing that is absent goes into the genitive after не было / нет when we mean “there wasn’t / isn’t (someone) somewhere”.

So почему меня не было follows this pattern: it’s about my absence in some place or situation.

Why is there a comma before и in ..., и учитель же удивился ...?

Because Russian treats this as a compound sentence: two independent clauses joined by и.

Я не сразу заметил это объявление – full clause (subject + verb).
учитель же удивился, почему меня не было – another full clause.

When two finite verbs with their own subjects form separate clauses and are joined by и, Russian normally puts a comma:

Я открыл окно, и в комнату ворвался холодный воздух.
Она ушла, и я остался один.

So the comma before и here is standard and expected.

Is the comma before почему necessary, and why is there no question mark after почему меня не было?

Yes, the comma is necessary, and there is no question mark because this is an indirect (embedded) question, not a direct one.

Main clause: учитель же удивился.
Subordinate clause (object clause): почему меня не было – “why I wasn’t (there).”

In Russian, almost all subordinate clauses are separated by a comma:

Я не знаю, где он. – I don’t know where he is.
Он спросил, когда мы уедем. – He asked when we will leave.

And we do not use a question mark if the whole sentence is a statement:

Учитель удивился, почему меня не было. (statement about his surprise)
vs
Почему меня не было? (direct question, needs a question mark)

Why is заметил perfective? Could we use замечал here?

Заметить (perfective) vs замечать (imperfective):

Заметить – to notice once, as a completed event: “to (finally) notice.”
Замечать – to be noticing / to use to notice (repeatedly), a process or habit.

In Я не сразу заметил это объявление we’re talking about one concrete act of noticing: I eventually saw the announcement, but not right away. That’s why perfective заметил is appropriate.

If you said:

Я не сразу замечал это объявление.

it would sound like repeated situations, e.g. over several days you repeatedly failed to notice it at first, then noticed later each time. That’s a different meaning, so in the given sentence заметил is the natural choice.

What is the difference between я не сразу заметил and я сразу не заметил?

Both are possible, but the nuance is slightly different.

Я не сразу заметил это объявление.
- Usual, very natural phrasing.
- Focus: I did notice it, but not immediately.
- Approx.: “I didn’t notice this announcement right away.”
Я сразу не заметил это объявление.
- More marked / less neutral; puts stronger emphasis on сразу.
- Focus: At the initial moment, I didn’t notice it. It usually still implies that I noticed it later, but the structure stresses the failure at the first moment.

In everyday speech, не сразу заметил is the most common way to express “not right away”. Сразу не заметил can sound like you’re contrasting “at once” with some later point, or slightly correcting an expectation: “I didn’t notice it immediately (as you might think).”

Why doesn’t это change form in это объявление? Which case is it?

The demonstrative этот / эта / это / эти does decline, but in this particular form (neuter, inanimate) the nominative and accusative are identical.

Nominative neuter singular: это объявление – “this announcement” (as subject)
Accusative neuter singular (inanimate): also это объявление – “this announcement” (as object)

In the sentence Я не сразу заметил это объявление:

заметил (что?) – noticed (what?) → direct object in the accusative
So это объявление is accusative, but the form looks the same as nominative.

You can see the change more clearly in other genders/cases:

Nominative masc.: этот стол – this table
Accusative masc. inanimate: этот стол (same form)
Accusative masc. animate: этого студента – this student (different form)

What’s the difference between объявление and реклама?

They overlap a bit, but usually:

Объявление
- “announcement,” “notice,” sometimes a classified ad.
- Often informational: schedules, school notices, lost-and-found, small ads.
- E.g.: На доске объявлений висит новое объявление. – There is a new notice on the noticeboard.
Реклама
- “advertising,” “advertisement” (commercial promotion).
- Made to sell or promote something.
- E.g.: По телевизору идёт реклама. – There’s an ad on TV.

In a school / teacher context, объявление is exactly right: it’s usually about some organizational information, not commercial advertising.

Why do we use удивился (reflexive) instead of удивил?

There are two different verbs:

удивиться (perfective reflexive) – “to be surprised” (intransitive).
- Учитель удивился. – The teacher was surprised.
удивить (кого?) – “to surprise someone” (transitive).
- Учитель удивил учеников. – The teacher surprised the students.

In учитель же удивился, почему меня не было, we want to say “the teacher was surprised”, i.e. he experienced surprise himself. That meaning in Russian is expressed by the reflexive удивиться, so удивился is the correct form.

If we used удивил, we would need an object:

Учитель удивил всех, когда узнал, что меня не было. – The teacher surprised everyone when he found out that I wasn’t there.

Could we say ..., и учитель удивился, почему я отсутствовал instead? What would change?

Yes, you can say:

... и учитель удивился, почему я отсутствовал.

The meaning is close: “and the teacher was surprised why I was absent.”

Differences in nuance:

почему меня не было
- Very common, colloquial, natural in speech.
- Centers on my absence in that particular place/time.
- Slightly more emotional / vivid.
почему я отсутствовал
- Uses the verb отсутствовать – “to be absent” (more formal).
- Sounds a bit more official or written, like something in a report or school record.

Both are correct; the original почему меня не было sounds more like ordinary spoken Russian.

Can же stand in a different position, like и же учитель удивился or и учитель удивился же?

In modern neutral Russian, же usually comes right after the word it emphasizes, often the subject or another key element:

Учитель же удивился... – emphasizes учитель (“the teacher, for his part, was surprised”).
Он же сказал... – He (after all) said...

The options:

И же учитель удивился... – sounds wrong / unnatural.
И учитель удивился же... – possible only in very marked, stylistic, or poetic language; in normal speech it sounds odd.

So for everyday usage, keep же like this:

И учитель же удивился, почему меня не было.

You could also sometimes move it to emphasize something else:

И учитель удивился же тому, что меня не было.
– possible, but more bookish and with a slightly different emphasis.

Why are заметил and удивился both in masculine form? What if the speaker or teacher is female?

Past tense verbs in Russian agree with the gender and number of the subject:

Masculine singular: заметил, удивился
Feminine singular: заметила, удивилась
Neuter singular: заметило (rare with people), удивилось
Plural: заметили, удивились (no gender distinction)

In the sentence:

Я не сразу заметил это объявление... – я is assumed to be a male speaker.
... и учитель же удивился... – учитель is grammatically masculine, so удивился is required.

If the speaker were female, you’d say:

Я не сразу заметила это объявление...

If the teacher were female (using the word учительница):

... и учительница же удивилась, почему меня не было.

So the forms change according to the gender of the subject.