Learn Hardcore Russian: Мне нравится сидеть в зале и слушать, как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему. - I like sitting in the hall and listening to how each instrument sounds in its own way.

Мне нравится сидеть в зале и слушать, как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему.

I like sitting in the hall and listening to how each instrument sounds in its own way.

Breakdown of Мне нравится сидеть в зале и слушать, как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему.

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Questions & Answers about Мне нравится сидеть в зале и слушать, как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему.

How does мне нравится work grammatically? Why not just say я нравлюсь?

In Russian, нравиться literally means to be pleasing to someone, not to like.

The thing that is pleasing is the grammatical subject.
The person who experiences the liking is in the dative case.

So:

Мне нравится сидеть... = To me it is pleasing to sit... → I like to sit…
Я нравлюсь тебе = I am pleasing to you → You like me.

If you want a direct equivalent of I like, you can also say:

Я люблю сидеть в зале... – I love / like sitting in the hall…

But мне нравится is very common and sounds natural and neutral here.

Why is мне in the dative case here instead of я?

Because of the verb нравиться. This verb always puts the “liker” (the experiencer) in the dative:

Мне нравится... – I like...
Тебе нравится... – You like...
Ему / ей нравится... – He / she likes...
Нам нравится... – We like...

So мне is the dative form of я, required by нравиться.

Why are сидеть and слушать in the infinitive after мне нравится?

After мне нравится (and similar expressions of liking), Russian normally uses the infinitive when you talk about liking an action:

Мне нравится сидеть. – I like to sit / I like sitting.
Мне нравится слушать музыку. – I like listening to music.

In this sentence, one нравится governs a pair of infinitives joined by и:

Мне нравится сидеть в зале и слушать...
= I like *to sit in the hall and (to) listen...*

There’s no need to repeat нравится before слушать; it applies to both actions.

Why is it в зале and not в зал? What’s the difference?

The choice is about location vs. movement:

в зал (accusative) – into the hall, movement towards a place.
в зале (prepositional) – in the hall, being in a place.

In your sentence, the person already is in the hall and likes sitting there:

сидеть в зале – to sit in the hall (no movement).

If you wanted to express going into the hall, you’d say:

Мне нравится заходить в зал. – I like going into the hall.

What is the role of как in слушать, как каждый инструмент звучит...? Does it mean “how” or “as” or something else?

Here как introduces a subordinate clause and is best translated as how:

слушать, как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему
= to listen to how each instrument sounds in its own way

So structurally:

слушать (что?) – как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему
→ как introduces the thing you are listening to, similar to English listen to how...

In many contexts как can also mean as, when, or that, but here how is the most natural equivalent.

Why is there a comma before как here? Is it always needed?

Yes, in this sentence the comma is required because как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему is a separate clause (a subordinate clause) introduced by как.

Pattern:

слушать, как ... звучит ...

You have:

Main part: Мне нравится сидеть в зале и слушать
Subordinate clause: как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему

Russian punctuation requires a comma between the main clause and a subordinate clause introduced by как (except in a few special fixed expressions that don’t apply here).

Why is it каждый инструмент звучит, not каждый инструмент звучат?

Каждый инструмент is grammatically singular:

каждый = each, every (singular)
инструмент = instrument (singular)

So the verb must also be in the 3rd person singular:

каждый инструмент звучит – each instrument sounds

If you used a plural subject, you’d use a plural verb:

все инструменты звучат по‑своему – all the instruments sound in their own way

But with каждый you always stay singular.

What exactly does по‑своему mean, and why is there a hyphen?

по‑своему literally means something like “in its own way” / “in one’s own manner”.

Meaning:
- каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему
  = each instrument sounds in its own way
  It emphasizes that each one has a distinct, individual sound.
Form and hyphen:
- по‑
  - своему → adverb.
- Russian writes many adverbs formed with по‑
  - a dative/adjectival form (‑ому / ‑ему) with a hyphen:
    - по‑моему – in my opinion / in my way
    - по‑твоему – in your opinion / in your way
    - по‑старому – in the old way
    - по‑новому – in a new way
    - по‑своему – in one’s own way

So the hyphen is just the standard spelling rule for this type of adverb.

How is по‑своему different from по‑разному or по‑особенному?

All three can be translated as something like differently or in a special way, but the nuances differ:

по‑своему – in its own way, in one’s own way
- Focus on individuality: each instrument has its own characteristic sound.
по‑разному – in different ways (from one another)
- Focus on difference/comparison, not necessarily uniqueness.
- Инструменты звучат по‑разному. – The instruments sound different(ly).
по‑особенному – in a special/unusual way
- Focus on being special, unusual, distinctive, sometimes with emotional coloring.
- Этот инструмент звучит по‑особенному. – This instrument sounds special / unusually.

In your sentence, по‑своему nicely captures that each instrument has its own particular sound.

Why is каждый инструмент in the nominative case? Shouldn’t it be some other case?

Inside the clause как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему, the verb is звучит (sounds). The thing that sounds is the subject of this clause:

кто? что? звучит? → каждый инструмент.

Subjects in Russian are normally in the nominative case, so каждый инструмент stays nominative.

If you changed the structure, the case could change, but with звучит as the main verb of the clause, каждый инструмент must be nominative.

Can I say слушать, как звучит каждый инструмент, or must it be как каждый инструмент звучит?

Both word orders are grammatically correct:

слушать, как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему
слушать, как звучит каждый инструмент по‑своему

The difference is very small and mostly about focus and rhythm:

как каждый инструмент звучит – slightly more focus on each instrument as separate entities.
как звучит каждый инструмент – focus first on the process of sounding, then on which instrument.

In everyday speech and writing, both versions sound natural. Your original word order is very typical and smooth.

What does the ‑ся in нравится do? Is it really a reflexive verb here?

The ‑ся in нравиться historically comes from a reflexive ending, but in modern Russian this verb is best treated as inherently “‑ся” with a special meaning to be pleasing (to someone).

нравить without ‑ся is very rare and archaic.
So learners usually memorize нравиться as its own verb.

The ‑ся here doesn’t mean “like oneself”; it’s part of the pattern that shifts the meaning to something like to seem pleasing / to be liked and lets the experiencer be in the dative (мне, тебе, ему etc.).

Why is it сидеть and not посидеть? How does aspect play into this sentence?

сидеть and посидеть are imperfective vs. perfective:

сидеть – imperfective, focuses on the process / activity of sitting.
посидеть – perfective, focuses on a completed period of sitting (to sit for a while, to have a sit).

With нравится, Russian almost always uses the imperfective infinitive when talking about what you generally like doing:

Мне нравится сидеть в зале. – I like sitting in the hall (as an activity, in general).

If you said:

Мне нравится посидеть в зале.

it would sound more like “I like to (take the chance to) sit in the hall for a while”, a bit more about a bounded episode than a general hobby. The neutral, most usual choice is сидеть.

Could I replace Мне нравится with Я люблю here? Would it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Я люблю сидеть в зале и слушать, как каждый инструмент звучит по‑своему.

Both are correct, but there’s a nuance:

Мне нравится... – often sounds a bit more neutral, observational:
It is pleasant for me, I enjoy it.
Я люблю... – can sound a bit more personal/strong, like a habit or preference that is part of who you are:
I (really) like / love doing this.

In this context, both are natural; Мне нравится... maybe feels a bit more like a calm description of what gives you pleasure.