Learn Hardcore Russian: Моя подруга работает организатором конференции и уже устала. - My friend female works as the organizer of the conference and is already tired.

In Russian, after verbs like работать (to work), быть (to be), стать (to become), you normally use the instrumental to express someone’s profession or role:

Она работает врачом. – She works as a doctor.
Он был учителем. – He was a teacher.

So:

работает организатором = works as (a) conference organizer.

That’s why it’s организатором, not организатор or организатора.

Why is конференции ending in -и? What case is that?

Конференции here is genitive singular (of конференция).

The structure is: организатором конференции – literally organizer of (the) conference.
In Russian, when one noun “belongs to” or specifies another (like organizer of the conference), the second noun is often in the genitive:

организатор проекта – organizer of the project
учитель математики – teacher of math

So конференции is genitive singular: of (the) conference.

Why is it моя подруга, not мой подруга?

The possessive adjective мой / моя / моё / мои must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

подруга is feminine, singular, nominative.
The correct feminine form of мой in nominative is моя.

So:

мой друг – my (male) friend
моя подруга – my (female) friend
моё письмо – my letter
мои друзья – my friends

What exactly does подруга mean? Is it “girlfriend” in the romantic sense?

Подруга means female friend by default. It does not necessarily imply a romantic relationship.

Common uses:

Это моя подруга. – This is my (female) friend.
Он разговаривает с подругой. – He is talking with (a) female friend.

For a romantic “girlfriend”, context or wording often clarifies:

моя девушка – very often “my girlfriend” (romantic partner).
моя подруга – usually just a female friend, unless context clearly says otherwise.

So in this sentence, моя подруга is best understood as my (female) friend.

Why is there no word for “as” like in “works as a conference organizer”?

Russian usually doesn’t use a separate word for “as” in this job/role meaning.
Instead, it expresses “as X” by:

the verb (работать / быть / стать)
plus the instrumental case of the profession/role

Compare:

English: She works as a conference organizer.
Russian: Она работает организатором конференции.

So the meaning of “as” is built into the combination работает + instrumental.

Why is there no она in the second part: why not … и она уже устала?

In Russian, when two predicates share the same subject, you often omit the repeated pronoun in the second part.

Full version would be:

Моя подруга работает организатором конференции и (она) уже устала.

But since моя подруга is clearly the subject of both работает and устала, она is unnecessary and would sound heavier, sometimes even slightly clumsy in such a short sentence.

Omitting the repeated subject like this is very natural and standard in Russian.

What is the form устала exactly? Why not устал or устали?

Устала is the past tense, feminine singular form of the verb устать (to get tired, to become tired).

Past tense in Russian agrees with the subject’s gender and number:

Он устал. – He got tired. (masc. sg.)
Она устала. – She got tired. (fem. sg.)
Оно устало. – It got tired. (neut. sg.)
Они устали. – They got tired. (pl.)

Since подруга is feminine singular, the verb must be устала.

Is there a difference between устала and something like “is tired”? Is it completed or ongoing?

Устала (from устать) is a perfective past tense form.

Nuance:

устала = she has gotten tired / she has become tired (and is now tired).
It focuses on the result of becoming tired.

To talk about the process or repeated action, you would use the imperfective:

Она устаёт. – She gets tired / she is getting tired (in general, or right now, process-focused).

In this sentence, уже устала nicely matches the idea “has already ended up tired” as a result of her work.

Why is there no comma before и? Shouldn’t it be …конференции, и уже устала?

No comma is needed here because this is considered one simple sentence with one subject and two predicates:

Subject: моя подруга
Predicates: работает организатором конференции and (она) уже устала

In Russian, when one subject has two verbs joined by и, you usually do not put a comma:

Я читал и писал. – I was reading and writing.
Он работает и учится. – He works and studies.

So Моя подруга работает организатором конференции и уже устала. is correctly written without a comma.

Could we change the word order? For example, Моя подруга уже устала и работает организатором конференции?

Yes, you can change the word order, but the focus changes slightly.

Моя подруга работает организатором конференции и уже устала.
– Neutral order; first tells you her job, then says she’s already tired from it.
Моя подруга уже устала и работает организатором конференции.
– Sounds a bit odd logically (she’s already tired and works as an organizer), like two parallel facts; the causal link “she works a lot, therefore she’s tired” becomes less clear.

The original order feels most natural because it presents a logical sequence:
She works as a conference organizer, and (as a result) is already tired.

What’s the difference between Она организатор конференции and Она работает организатором конференции?

Both can be correct but they’re not identical in nuance.

Она организатор конференции.
– Stating a role or identity: She is the conference organizer.
– Could be a specific one-time event (“this conference”), like a role she has now.
Она работает организатором конференции.
– Emphasizes work / employment: She works as a conference organizer.
– Sounds more like a job, possibly ongoing professional activity.

In this sentence, работает организатором конференции suggests she’s doing this as her work, which is why she’s already tired.

How is уже functioning here? Could it go in a different position?

Уже means already and it modifies устала:

уже устала – has already become tired

Possible positions and nuances:

Моя подруга уже устала. – She is already tired.
Моя подруга уже работает организатором конференции. – She already works as a conference organizer (earlier than expected).

In the original:

...работает организатором конференции и уже устала.
– The already clearly applies to устала; she has already gotten tired (presumably from that work).

Moving уже elsewhere would shift what is “already” – the work or the tiredness.

What tense is работает, and what aspect is it?

Работает is present tense, 3rd person singular of работать, which is imperfective aspect.

Она работает. – She works / she is working.

Imperfective present in Russian can mean:

a current ongoing action: she is working right now, or
a regular / habitual action: she works as a conference organizer (in general).

Here, работает организатором конференции can be understood as her current job, possibly ongoing or habitual.