Learn Hardcore Russian: Хомяк любит прятаться под диваном, а хозяйка смеётся и ищет его. - The hamster likes to hide under the couch, and the landlady laughs and looks for him.

Хомяк is masculine, singular, nominative case – it’s the subject of the sentence.
Russian doesn’t use articles (a, an, the). Whether you translate it as “a hamster” or “the hamster” depends on context in English.
So Хомяк любит прятаться… can be “A hamster likes to hide…” or “The hamster likes to hide…”, both are possible in English.

Why is it любит прятаться and not something like любит спрятаться or любит прятать себя?

Любить + infinitive means “to like doing something”:
- любить читать – to like reading
- любить петь – to like singing
- любить прятаться – to like hiding
Прятаться is imperfective, focusing on the process / repeated action: “likes hiding (in general, habitually)”.
Спрятаться (perfective) would focus on a single completed action, so любит спрятаться sounds odd: “He likes to have hidden once” – not natural.
Прятать себя is grammatically possible but unnatural here; Russians use прятаться (the reflexive form) to mean “to hide (oneself)”.

What’s the difference between прятаться, спрятаться, and прятать? Why use прятаться here?

Прятаться – to hide (oneself), imperfective, reflexive.
- Хомяк любит прятаться. – The hamster likes hiding.
Спрятаться – to hide (oneself), perfective, reflexive.
- Хомяк спрятался. – The hamster hid / has hidden (completed action).
Прятать – to hide (something / someone else), imperfective, non‑reflexive.
- Он прячет игрушку. – He is hiding a toy.

In this sentence, the hamster is hiding himself, and the sentence talks about a habit, so прятаться (imperfective reflexive) is the natural choice.

Why is it под диваном and not под диван? What case is that?

Под can take accusative or instrumental, depending on meaning:
- под + accusative – movement to a position:
  - Хомяк бежит под диван. – The hamster is running under the sofa.
- под + instrumental – location where something is:
  - Хомяк любит прятаться под диваном. – The hamster likes hiding under the sofa (place).
Диваном is instrumental singular of диван.
Here, the hamster is located under the sofa when he hides, so под диваном (instrumental) is correct.

What exactly does хозяйка mean? Is it only “owner”?

Хозяйка is a feminine noun. Common meanings:
- female owner (of a pet, house, etc.)
- hostess (of a home, at a party)
- housewife (in some contexts)
The male version is хозяин.
In this sentence, хозяйка is clearly “(female) owner” of the hamster.

Why is there a comma before а, and what’s the difference between а and и here?

Russian puts a comma before а when it links two clauses:
- Хомяк любит прятаться под диваном, а хозяйка смеётся и ищет его.
И usually just means “and” (adding similar things).
А often shows a contrast or a slight counterpoint:
- Он читает, а она пишет. – He reads, while she writes.
Here, а contrasts the hamster’s behavior with the owner’s reaction:
- The hamster hides under the sofa, whereas the owner laughs and looks for him.

Why is хозяйка in the nominative? Could it be …а смеётся и ищет его without repeating хозяйка?

Хозяйка is nominative singular, the subject of the second clause:
- (Кто?) хозяйка смеётся и ищет его.
Russian can omit a repeated subject when the subject is clearly the same:
- Хомяк любит прятаться под диваном, а смеётся и ищет его хозяйка. – possible, but changes emphasis.
- Or: …а смеётся и ищет его она. – “…and she laughs and looks for him.”
In the original sentence, repeating хозяйка makes it very clear and neutral, and it puts a bit of emphasis on the owner as the one reacting.

What is going on with смеётся? What does the -ся / -сь ending do, and why is there ё?

The verb is смеяться – “to laugh”.
Смеётся is 3rd person singular, present tense: “(she) laughs”.
The -ся / -сь ending marks a reflexive verb, but here it’s just part of the verb’s normal form – you don’t translate it separately.
- смеяться – to laugh
- бояться – to be afraid
- учиться – to study / learn
Ё vs е:
- Correct spelling here is смеётся with ё.
- In many printed texts, ё is written as е (смеется), but it is still pronounced
- Using ё is helpful for learners, because it marks the stress and pronunciation clearly.

Why is it смеётся и ищет and not something like смеётся и ищут?

Both verbs share the same subject, хозяйка (she):
- хозяйка смеётся – the owner laughs
- (хозяйка) ищет – (the owner) looks for (him)
So both verbs must be 3rd person singular:
- смеётся (she laughs)
- ищет (she looks for)
Ищут would be 3rd person plural (“they look for”), which doesn’t match хозяйка (singular).

Why is it ищет and not ищит? What is the base verb and aspect?

The verb is искать – to look for, to search.
Its 3rd person singular present form is он/она ищет (“he/she looks for”).
- я ищу
- ты ищешь
- он/она ищет
- мы ищем
- вы ищете
- они ищут
There is no form “ищить”. The stem иска- changes to ищ- in the present tense.
Искать is imperfective, expressing an ongoing or repeated action: “is looking for / (usually) looks for”.

What does его refer to here, and why is it его and not него?

Его is the 3rd person singular masculine/neuter pronoun in genitive/accusative: “him / it / his”.
In this sentence, его refers back to хомяк (the hamster):
- …хозяйка смеётся и ищет его. – “…the owner laughs and looks for him (the hamster).”
Него is used after most prepositions:
- у него, для него, без него, etc.
Here there is no preposition, so the normal form is его, not него.

Can the word order be changed, for example Хозяйка ищет его и смеётся or Хозяйка его ищет?

Yes, Russian word order is relatively flexible, though it affects emphasis:

Хозяйка смеётся и ищет его.
- Neutral: first “she laughs”, then “she looks for him.”
Хозяйка ищет его и смеётся.
- Slightly different feeling: first focus on searching, then add that she’s laughing.
Хозяйка его ищет.
- Emphasis on его (“it’s him that she is looking for” – maybe not someone/something else).
Его ищет хозяйка.
- Emphasis on хозяйка (“it is the owner who is looking for him”, not someone else).

All of these are grammatically correct; the original order is the most neutral and straightforward.

Why is everything in the present tense and imperfective? How would it change with perfective verbs?

Present tense imperfective describes:
- habits: what usually happens
- ongoing processes
Here, we’re describing a typical behavior:
- The hamster likes to hide.
- The owner laughs and looks for him (whenever this happens).

So we use imperfective:

прятаться, смеяться, искать → любит прятаться, смеётся, ищет.

Perfective equivalents for a single completed event would be:

спрятаться – to hide (once, successfully)
засмеяться – to burst out laughing / start laughing once
найти – to find

For example:

Хомяк спрятался под диван, а хозяйка засмеялась и нашла его.
- The hamster hid under the sofa, and the owner laughed and found him.

That sentence describes one specific incident, not a general habit.