Learn Hardcore Russian: Сегодня стирка уже закончена, и тёплое бельё лежит на кровати. - Today the laundry is already finished, and the warm clothes are lying on the bed.

Стирка is a feminine noun (она, моя стирка).
The short-form participle must agree with the noun in gender and number:
- masculine: закончен
- feminine: закончена
- neuter: закончено
- plural: закончены

So you say:

Стирка уже закончена. – The laundry (process) is already finished.
Проект уже закончен. – The project is already finished.
Дело уже закончено. – The matter is already finished.
Работы уже закончены. – The works are already finished.

You cannot say стирка уже законченный here, because that would be a full-form adjective, and it doesn’t fit this predicate pattern. In this sentence, Russian prefers the short form to describe the resulting state: “the laundry is (in the state of being) finished”.

What is the difference between стирка уже закончена and стирка уже закончилась?

Both are correct, but the nuance is slightly different:

Стирка уже закончена.
- Uses a short-form participle: focuses on the state/result.
- Roughly: The laundry (washing) is already finished / done.
Стирка уже закончилась.
- Uses the verb закончиться (perfective past): focuses more on the event of finishing.
- Roughly: The washing has already finished / came to an end.

In everyday speech, they’re often interchangeable.

If you’re emphasizing the current situation/state, закончена is very natural.
If you’re telling a story and talking about when it finished, закончилась fits slightly better.

Why is the word order Сегодня стирка уже закончена? Could I say Стирка уже закончена сегодня or Стирка сегодня уже закончена?

Russian word order is flexible, but it changes emphasis. All of these are grammatically possible:

Сегодня стирка уже закончена.
- Neutral, common. “As for today, the laundry is already done.”
- Emphasis slightly on “today” (as opposed to another day).
Стирка сегодня уже закончена.
- Very natural too. Emphasis more on “the laundry” and its state today.
Стирка уже сегодня закончена.
- Sounds a bit more marked; puts stress on “already today” (earlier than expected).
Стирка уже закончена сегодня.
- Grammatically OK, but feels unusual; “today” at the end sounds a bit tacked on.

The given version is a typical neutral sentence; others are possible when you want to highlight different parts of the message.

What exactly does стирка mean here? Is it the clothes or the process? Why not just say бельё?

Стирка usually means the process of washing clothes (the task, the chore, the laundry session).

Сегодня стирка уже закончена.
→ The washing (chore) is already finished.

Бельё refers to the items being washed: underwear, bed linen, towels, etc. So the second part:

тёплое бельё лежит на кровати
→ the warm laundry is lying on the bed.

You could also say:

Сегодня бельё уже постирано, и тёплое бельё лежит на кровати.
(Today the laundry is already washed, and the warm laundry is lying on the bed.)

But the original sentence nicely separates:

first clause: the chore/process is done (стирка)
second clause: the resulting items (бельё) are on the bed.

Why is it тёплое бельё and not тёплая бельё or something else? What gender is бельё?

Бельё is a neuter noun in Russian:

оно, моё бельё

Adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun, so you get:

тёплое бельё
- тёплое – neuter singular form of тёплый
- бельё – neuter singular noun

Compare:

тёплый свитер (masc.)
тёплая рубашка (fem.)
тёплое бельё (neut.)

So тёплая бельё would be ungrammatical because the genders don’t match.

Does бельё mean specifically “underwear”, or can it just mean “laundry” / “clothes”?

Бельё is a bit broader than just “underwear”:

Underwear / undergarments
- Example: чистое бельё – clean underwear
Bed linen (sheets, pillowcases, duvet covers)
- постельное бельё – bed linen
More generally, laundry (things you wash: underwear, towels, sheets, etc.)
- Я сегодня стираю бельё. – I’m doing the laundry today.

In this sentence, тёплое бельё лежит на кровати, the most natural understanding is freshly washed laundry (probably still warm from the washing machine/dryer), not just “underpants on the bed”. Context controls how specific it is.

Why is it бельё лежит, not бельё лежат? In English we say “the clothes are lying on the bed”.

In Russian, бельё is a singular noun, grammatically neuter. It behaves like a mass/collective word:

бельё лежит – singular verb form (оно лежит)
молоко стоит в холодильнике – Milk is (standing) in the fridge (also singular)
золото лежит в сейфе – Gold lies in the safe

Even though бельё can refer to multiple items, Russian grammar treats it as one mass, so the verb agrees in singular:

тёплое бельё лежит (not лежат).

Why do we use лежит here and not находится or just есть?

The verb лежать literally means “to lie (in a horizontal position).” In practice:

лежит на кровати suggests that the laundry is spread out, lying on the surface of the bed.

Other options:

тёплое бельё находится на кровати
- Grammatically OK, but more formal, neutral, and spatial — like “is located on the bed”. It loses the image of it physically lying there.
тёплое бельё на кровати (without a verb)
- In Russian, you can often omit есть (“there is”).
- Тёплое бельё на кровати. is possible in spoken language, but sounds a bit telegraphic.

Using лежит gives a very natural, visual description: you picture warm laundry lying on the bed.

Why is it на кровати and not в кровати or just кровать? What case is кровати here?

На кровати uses:

the preposition на (“on”)
the prepositional case of кровать (feminine noun):
- nominative: кровать
- prepositional: на кровати

We say:

на кровати – on the bed (on its surface)
в кровати – literally in the bed (inside; mostly used about a person in bed, under the covers, e.g. он лежит в кровати)

For objects placed on top, you normally use на:

книга лежит на столе – the book lies on the table
бельё лежит на кровати – the laundry lies on the bed

So кровати is prepositional singular feminine after на indicating location.

Is there a specific rule for using a comma before и in …закончена, и тёплое бельё лежит…?

Yes. You have two independent clauses (two separate sentences joined by и):

Сегодня стирка уже закончена
тёплое бельё лежит на кровати

In Russian, when и connects two full clauses (each has its own subject and predicate), you normally put a comma before и:

Сегодня стирка уже закончена, и тёплое бельё лежит на кровати.

If и connects just parts of the same clause (for example, two verbs sharing one subject), there is usually no comma:

Сегодня стирка уже закончена и разложена по местам.
(one subject, one overall predicate group – no comma)

Here, since we have two separate sentences combined into one, the comma is required.

Is закончена considered present or past? In English I want to say “has finished” or “is finished”. How should I think about the tense/aspect here?

Short-form participles like закончена express a current state resulting from a past action.

Grammatically, they are often treated as forming a kind of “state in the present”:
- Стирка уже закончена. → The washing is already finished (now).

In English, you might think of it as combining ideas of:

present: “is”
result of the past: “finished / has been finished”

So:

Сегодня стирка уже закончена ≈ Today the laundry is already finished or has already been finished (and is in a finished state now).

You don’t need to mark past or present with an auxiliary; the participle form plus context does the job.

Where can I put уже in this sentence? Does the position change the meaning much?

Possible positions (all grammatically OK, with slight shifts of emphasis):

Сегодня стирка уже закончена…
- Neutral; уже ties to закончена – “already finished”.
Сегодня уже стирка закончена…
- Emphasis: “Already today the laundry is finished” (maybe earlier than usual).
Уже сегодня стирка закончена…
- Stronger focus on “already today,” often contrasting with expectation (e.g. usually it’s later).
Сегодня стирка закончена уже.
- Possible, but уже at the end feels more conversational/emphatic, a bit unusual: like adding “already, you know” at the end.

The most standard and neutral is the original: Сегодня стирка уже закончена…

Could I say Сегодня стирка уже сделана instead of закончена? Is there a difference?

You can say:

Сегодня стирка уже сделана.

It’s grammatically correct and understandable. Nuance:

закончена – focuses on the process finishing.
сделана (from сделать) – more like “the task is done/completed.”

Both are often interchangeable in casual speech, but стирка уже закончена is a bit more natural and idiomatic for a process like washing.
Сделана is very common with more generic tasks:

Работа уже сделана. – The work is already done.

Why doesn’t Russian use any word for “the” here, like “the laundry”, “the bed”? How do Russians know it’s specific?

Russian has no articles (no “the”, “a/an”). Specificity is usually clear from:

Context:
- In a household context, стирка will be understood as “the laundry (we’re talking about)”.
- кровать will be “the bed” in that room/home.
Possessives or other words, when needed:
- моё бельё лежит на кровати – my laundry is lying on the bed
- это бельё лежит на кровати – this laundry is lying on the bed

In this sentence, context supplies the definiteness, so plain стирка, бельё, кровать are enough. An English learner mentally needs to add “the” in translation:

Today *the laundry is already finished, and the warm laundry is lying on the bed.*

If I wanted to sound very close to English “Today the laundry is already finished, and the warm laundry is lying on the bed”, is the original Russian sentence natural, or would a native say something different?

The original sentence is natural and idiomatic:

Сегодня стирка уже закончена, и тёплое бельё лежит на кровати.

A native might also say things like:

Сегодня я уже постирала, и тёплое бельё лежит на кровати.
(Today I’ve already done the washing…) – more personal, with я.
Сегодня бельё уже постирано, и тёплое бельё лежит на кровати.
(Today the laundry is already washed…)

But your given sentence is perfectly good, natural Russian for describing the situation.