Learn Hardcore Russian: Я записываю свои мысли в ежедневник, как будто веду маленький научный эксперимент. - I write down my thoughts in a planner as if I were conducting a small scientific experiment.

Imperfective in the present usually means:
- something you do regularly/habitually: “I (usually) write down…”
- or something happening right now: “I am writing down…”

In this sentence, я записываю свои мысли… can mean either:

“I write down my thoughts…” (a regular habit), or
“I’m writing down my thoughts…” (right now),

Russian doesn’t have a separate “-ing” form; the same present-imperfective form covers both meanings. Context normally shows which.

If we used:

я записал свои мысли – “I wrote down my thoughts (already, finished)” – past, perfective.
я запишу свои мысли – “I will write down my thoughts” – future, perfective.

So записываю fits because the speaker is describing an ongoing or habitual activity, not a single completed act.

Why is it свои мысли and not мои мысли, or just мысли?

Сво́й is the reflexive possessive pronoun “my/your/his/her/our/their (own)”. It is used when the possessor is the subject of the sentence.

Here:

subject: я
thing possessed: мысли
therefore: свои мысли = “my own thoughts”.

You could say мои мысли, and it would still be grammatical, but:

свои мысли feels more natural and neutral here.
мои мысли can sound slightly more emphatic or contrastive (“my thoughts (as opposed to someone else’s)”).

Just мысли (“thoughts”) without any possessive is also possible in Russian, but it would feel more general, less personal. Свои мысли underlines that these are the speaker’s personal thoughts, which fits a diary/planner context well.

Why is it в ежедневник and not в ежедневнике?

The preposition в can take:

accusative → direction, movement “into”
prepositional → location “in, inside”

Ежедневник is in the accusative here (formally the same as nominative for masculine inanimate nouns), so в ежедневник literally means “(into) the planner / daily journal”.

For verbs of writing, drawing, etc., Russian often uses в + accusative to mean “into (a surface/container)”:

писать в тетрадь – to write into a notebook
записывать в блокнот – to write down into a notepad
рисовать в альбом – to draw in a sketchbook

So записываю … в ежедневник fits the pattern “write X into Y”.

If you say в ежедневнике (prepositional), it describes location more statically, like:

Мысли уже есть в ежедневнике. – The thoughts are already in the planner.

For the act of writing them there, в ежедневник (accusative) is the natural choice.

What exactly does ежедневник mean? Is it the same as дневник?

Both are related but not identical.

Дневник = diary, journal, or school grade-book.
- Can be a personal diary (where you write feelings, events).
- In school context, it’s the book with grades and homework.
Ежедневник = planner, daily organizer, agenda.
- Usually more about schedules, tasks, notes.
- Often looks like a business planner with dates and time slots.

In this sentence, ежедневник suggests something more like a planner / daily organizer rather than a purely emotional diary. The nuance is more practical and structured, which fits the “scientific experiment” metaphor.

What does как будто do here, and how is it different from just как or будто?

Как будто is a conjunction meaning “as if / as though”.

как будто веду маленький научный эксперимент
= “as if I’m conducting a small scientific experiment.”

Differences:

как alone:
- often means “like / as” (“in the same way as”):
- Он пишет как ребёнок. – He writes like a child.
- It can sometimes mean “as if”, but как будто is clearer and more standard for that.
будто alone:
- also means “as if / as though”.
- Он смотрит на меня, будто не узнаёт.
- Style: slightly more “bookish” or literary in many contexts.
как будто:
- very common, neutral way to say “as if”.
- can be strengthened with как будто бы, adding a bit of emphasis: “as if indeed”.

So here как будто introduces a comparison that is not literal: writing in the planner is being compared to conducting a scientific experiment.

Why is there no я after как будто? Could we say как будто я веду…?

The full clause could indeed be:

…как будто я веду маленький научный эксперимент.

Russian often omits a repeated subject pronoun when it’s obvious from context, especially within the same sentence. Since я is already the subject at the start (Я записываю…) and веду is 1st person singular, the listener/reader easily understands that я is also the subject of веду.

So:

…как будто веду… is natural and normal.
…как будто я веду… is also correct; it may sound a tiny bit more explicit or emphatic but not very different in meaning.

What does веду mean here, and why this verb instead of something like делаю or провожу?

Веду is 1st person singular present of вести.

Core meanings of вести:

to lead, to guide (вести группу туристов – to lead a group of tourists),
to run, to manage, to conduct/maintain (вести проект, вести урок, вести блог).

With эксперимент, вести эксперимент ≈ “to conduct/run an experiment”, with a nuance of ongoing management or process.

Alternatives:

проводить эксперимент – very common for “to conduct an experiment”; almost synonymous.
делать эксперимент – understandable, but sounds less natural and less technical/scientific.

Also, Russian uses вести with things you regularly maintain:

вести дневник / ежедневник – to keep a diary/planner.
вести записи – to keep notes.

So веду маленький научный эксперимент nicely matches that pattern of “conducting” or “running” something over time.

Why is it маленький научный эксперимент and not some other adjective order or endings?

Adjectives in Russian agree with the noun in:

gender,
number,
case.

Эксперимент is masculine, singular, and here it’s in the accusative case as the direct object of веду. For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative form is the same as the nominative.

So:

маленький – masc. sg. nom./acc.
научный – masc. sg. nom./acc.
эксперимент – masc. sg. acc. (same form as nom.)

Both adjectives match эксперимент in gender, number, and case.

Order:

маленький (size/degree) + научный (type/purpose) + эксперимент (noun)
This is the most natural order: general/subjective quality (small) comes before more classificatory/type information (scientific), similar to English “a small scientific experiment”, not “a scientific small experiment”.

Why is there a comma before как будто?

Как будто introduces a subordinate clause of comparison, functioning similarly to “as if” in English.

Russian punctuation rule:

When как будто (or будто, or словно) introduces a full subordinate clause, it is usually preceded by a comma.

Here we have two clauses:

Я записываю свои мысли в ежедневник – main clause.
(я) веду маленький научный эксперимент – subordinate clause, introduced by как будто.

Hence the comma:

…в ежедневник, как будто веду маленький научный эксперимент.

Could we use perfective verbs instead, like я записал or я провёл эксперимент? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, but the meaning changes.

Я записал свои мысли в ежедневник, как будто провёл маленький научный эксперимент.
- записал and провёл are perfective, past.
- This would describe completed actions:
  - “I wrote down my thoughts in the planner, as if I had conducted a small scientific experiment.”
- It sounds like you are talking about one finished episode.
Original sentence (imperfective present):
- Я записываю… как будто веду…
- Describes an ongoing or habitual process.
- It feels more like a general description of how you approach this activity in your life.

So using perfective would shift the focus to a specific completed action, not your usual or current way of doing things.

Is there freedom to change the word order, like Я в ежедневник записываю свои мысли…?

Yes, Russian allows quite flexible word order, but it affects emphasis.

Possible variants:

Я записываю свои мысли в ежедневник, как будто веду…
Neutral, basic statement; focus is evenly spread.
Я в ежедневник записываю свои мысли, как будто веду…
Puts extra emphasis on в ежедневник – “It’s into the planner that I write my thoughts…”
Свои мысли я записываю в ежедневник…
Highlights свои мысли – “It is my own thoughts that I write in the planner…”

All are grammatically fine; the original word order is the most neutral and typical for written style.

How would you paraphrase this sentence more literally in English to show the Russian structure?

A closer, more literal-feeling paraphrase would be:

“I write down my own thoughts into a daily planner, as if I am conducting a little scientific experiment.”

This keeps:

“write down” for записываю,
“into a daily planner” for в ежедневник (direction),
“my own thoughts” for свои мысли,
“as if I am conducting” for как будто веду,
“little scientific experiment” for маленький научный эксперимент.