Learn Hardcore Russian: Когда таймер звенит, я встаю, делаю растяжку и пью воду. - When the timer rings, I stand up, do some stretching, and drink water.

In Russian, when you talk about regular, repeated actions (a routine), you normally use the present tense, even if in English you might also think of it as “when the timer goes off.”

Когда таймер звенит, я встаю…
= When the timer rings, I get up… (general routine, happens regularly)

The present tense in a когда-clause often means:

a general truth or habit: Когда тепло, мы гуляем. – When it’s warm, we go for a walk.

If you wanted a one-time future event, you’d change aspects/tenses:

Когда таймер зазвенит, я встану… – When the timer rings (that time in the future), I’ll get up…

So here, звенит is present tense describing a habitual action, not a specific future one-off event.

What’s the difference between звенит and зазвенит for the timer?

It’s about aspect and nuance:

звенит – imperfective: is ringing / rings (as a general event)
- Когда таймер звенит, я встаю… – Every time it rings, I do this.
- Focus is on the process or repeated action.
зазвенит – perfective: will (start to) ring (once)
- Когда таймер зазвенит, я встану… – On that specific future occasion, when it rings, I will get up.
- Focus is on the moment of starting to ring, a single completed event.

In a sentence about daily routine, звенит (imperfective present) is the natural choice.

Could you also say Когда таймер зазвенит, я встану, сделаю растяжку и выпью воду? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, that’s a correct sentence, but the meaning changes:

Когда таймер звенит, я встаю, делаю растяжку и пью воду.
→ Describes a habit/routine. This is what usually happens whenever the timer rings.
Когда таймер зазвенит, я встану, сделаю растяжку и выпью воду.
→ Sounds like a promise or plan for a specific future situation (or a one-off event).
All verbs become perfective future:
- встану (will get up once)
- сделаю (will do once, complete it)
- выпью (will drink it up, finish)

So the original sentence is about what you generally do, the alternative is about what you will do that time in the future.

Why is there a comma before я встаю?

Because Russian separates a subordinate clause from the main clause with a comma.

Когда таймер звенит – subordinate clause of time (introduced by когда)
я встаю, делаю растяжку и пью воду – main clause

Rule: When a sentence starts with a когда-clause, you put a comma before the main clause:

Когда я прихожу домой, я сразу ем.
Когда стемнеет, мы уедем.

So the comma is mandatory:
Когда таймер звенит, я встаю…

Why is я written only once: я встаю, делаю растяжку и пью воду, and not repeated before every verb?

In Russian, when you have the same subject for several verbs in a row, you normally mention it once and then omit it:

Я читаю, пишу и слушаю музыку.
(Not я читаю, я пишу и я слушаю музыку in normal style.)

The subject я is clearly understood for:

встаю – (я) встаю
делаю – (я) делаю
пью – (я) пью

You can repeat я for emphasis or style:

Когда таймер звенит, я встаю, я делаю растяжку и я пью воду. (a bit heavy, but possible)

In everyday speech and writing, one “я” is enough when it’s clearly the subject of the whole sequence.

What exactly does встаю mean here? Why not стою?

встаю is from вставать / встать and means “to get up / to stand up” (change of position).
- Я встаю в семь утра. – I get up at seven a.m.
- Focus: movement from lying/sitting to standing.
стою is from стоять and means “I am standing” (a static position).
- Я стою у окна. – I am standing by the window.

In your sentence, after the timer, you change position (get out of bed), so the natural verb is встаю, not стою.

Why is it делаю растяжку and not some reflexive verb like растягиваюсь?

Both are possible, but they have different flavors:

делать растяжку – literally “to do stretching”, very close to English:
- Я делаю растяжку каждое утро. – I do stretching every morning.
- This sounds like talking about an exercise routine.
растягиваться – “to stretch (oneself)”:
- Я растягиваюсь каждое утро. – I stretch every morning.
- Also correct; slightly more colloquial and action-focused.

So делаю растяжку is a natural, neutral way to say “I do some stretching exercises”.
The noun растяжка is the direct object of делаю.

Why is растяжку in that form? What case is it?

Растяжку is in the accusative singular:

Nominative: растяжка (stretching)
Accusative: растяжку

The accusative is used for the direct object of a transitive verb – the thing directly receiving the action:

делать что? – делаю растяжку
(do what? – do stretching)

So the form растяжку is required by:

the verb делать
and the fact that растяжка is the object.

Why is it пью воду and not пью воды?

Both forms exist, but they’re used differently:

пью воду – accusative singular (вода → воду)
This is the normal, neutral way to say I drink water (some amount of it).
- Каждое утро я пью воду. – Every morning I drink water.
пью воды – genitive singular (вода → воды)
Used in more specific contexts, for example:
- with a specified amount: выпить немного воды – to drink a bit of water
- stylistically or poetically
- with verbs where genitive is regular (e.g. налить воды – to pour water)

For a simple routine “I drink water”, Russian uses пью воду, not пью воды.

Why are there no words for “a/the” timer or “some” water? How do I know if it’s specific or general?

Russian has no articles (a, an, the) and usually no separate word for “some” in this sense.

Meaning is understood from context:

Когда таймер звенит, я встаю…
Can be understood as:
- When the timer rings… (a specific timer you use daily), or
- When a timer rings… (any timer, in a general statement)
пью воду
→ drink water / drink some water (context decides whether it’s some water in general or the water we talked about).

Russian listeners infer specificity from:

previous sentences
shared situation
extra words if needed (e.g. этот таймер – this timer).

Can I change the word order, like Когда таймер звенит, я встаю, пью воду и делаю растяжку?

Yes. The list of actions after я can be reordered without changing the grammar:

Когда таймер звенит, я встаю, пью воду и делаю растяжку.
Когда таймер звенит, я встаю, делаю растяжку и пью воду.

Both are correct. The difference is only the sequence you want to emphasize:

In the original, you get up → stretch → drink water.
In the variant, you get up → drink water → stretch.

The comma rules stay the same: you separate verbs in a series with commas, and use и before the last one.

Is таймер the best word here, or should it be будильник?

Both exist, but they’re used a bit differently:

таймер – timer (kitchen timer, phone timer, countdown, etc.)
- Focus on counting time for some purpose.
будильник – alarm clock
- Specifically for waking you up.

If you mean an alarm for waking up in the morning, будильник is more natural:

Когда будильник звенит, я встаю, делаю растяжку и пью воду.

If you mean some other kind of timer (for example, a workout timer), таймер is fine.