Learn Hardcore Russian: Попугай сидит на жердочке и повторяет наши слова смешным голосом. - The parrot sits on a perch and repeats our words in a funny voice.

Right now actions:
- Попугай сидит на жердочке. – The parrot is sitting (right now).
Habitual actions:
- Попугай повторяет наши слова. – The parrot repeats our words (does this regularly).

So сидит can mean both sits and is sitting, and повторяет can mean both repeats and is repeating, depending on context.

Why is there no separate word for is between попугай and сидит?

In Russian, the present tense of to be (быть) is normally omitted.

English:

The parrot is sitting on the perch. (needs is)

Russian:

Попугай сидит на жердочке. (no separate is)

The verb сидит already carries the meaning is sitting / sits, so you do not add any extra word for is. A present-tense есть (from быть) exists but is used only in special, mostly emphatic or archaic contexts, not in normal sentences like this one.

Why is it на жердочке and which case is used here?

На жердочке uses:

Preposition на
Noun жердочка in the prepositional case: на жердочке

Key points:

На + prepositional is used for location (where something is):
- сидит на жердочке – is sitting on the perch
If it were motion onto the perch, you would use на + accusative:
- садится на жердочку – is perching / sits down onto the perch

So here we are describing where the parrot is (location), so на жердочке (prepositional) is correct.

What is the base form and meaning of жердочке, and why does it have -очк-?

The base noun is жердь (feminine), meaning a rod / pole / perch (for birds).

Forms:

Nominative singular: жердь
Diminutive form: жердочка

жердочка has the diminutive suffix -очк-, which usually adds one or both of these nuances:

Small size: a small rod / a perch
Affection / “cute” tone: sounds a bit more cozy or friendly

In this sentence, жердочка corresponds very well to English perch (a little stick in a bird cage). The form жердочке is the prepositional singular of жердочка: на жердочке – on the (little) perch.

What is the form and aspect of повторяет, and what is its infinitive?

Повторяет is:

Infinitive: повторя́ть
Aspect: imperfective
Person/number: 3rd person singular, present tense

Aspect pair:

Imperfective: повторя́ть – to repeat (process, habit)
Perfective: повторить – to repeat once / to have repeated (completed action)

In this sentence, повторяет shows an ongoing or typical action:

повторяет наши слова – (he) is repeating / (he) repeats our words

Why is it наши слова, not наших слов? Which case is used for слова?

Наши слова is in the accusative plural, functioning as the direct object of повторяет.

повторяет (что?) наши слова – repeats what? our words

For inanimate nouns, in the plural:

Accusative plural = Nominative plural

The noun слово (word, neuter) declines like this:

Nominative plural: слова́
Accusative plural: слова́ (same as nominative)
Genitive plural: слов

The adjective/pronoun наш (our) must agree in number, gender, and case:

Nominative plural: наши
Accusative plural inanimate: наши
Genitive plural: наших

Because слова is a direct object, inanimate, plural, we use наши слова, not наших слов.

Why is there no comma before и in сидит на жердочке и повторяет наши слова?

In Russian, when two verbs share the same subject and form a simple compound predicate, you normally do not put a comma before и:

Попугай сидит на жердочке и повторяет наши слова.

Both сидит and повторяет have the same subject (попугай) and are just two actions in a single, simple clause. So:

No comma: сидит … и повторяет … – correct here
A comma would appear if you had more complex structures, separate clauses, or additional subjects.

Why is смешным голосом in the instrumental case, and what does this phrase literally mean?

Смешным голосом is:

Adjective смешной (funny) → смешным (instrumental, masculine singular)
Noun голос (voice) → голосом (instrumental singular)

So смешным голосом is instrumental case.

The instrumental is commonly used after verbs of speaking/producing sound to express “by means of / in a … voice”:

говорить тихим голосом – to speak in a quiet voice
петь громким голосом – to sing in a loud voice
повторяет наши слова смешным голосом – repeats our words in a funny voice

Literally: “with a funny voice / by a funny voice”, but idiomatically: in a funny voice.

What is the difference between смешным голосом and смешной голос?

They have different grammatical roles and slightly different uses:

Смешной голос (nominative case)
- Means a funny voice as a subject or an object:
  - У него смешной голос. – He has a funny voice.
- Here, смешной just describes the noun голос.
Смешным голосом (instrumental case)
- Used mainly with verbs to show how someone speaks/makes sound:
  - Он говорит смешным голосом. – He speaks in a funny voice.
- It behaves like an adverbial phrase: describes the manner of speaking.

In the sentence, we need how he repeats the words, so смешным голосом is the natural choice.

How do the adjective endings agree in смешным голосом and наши слова?

Agreement rules:

Смешным голосом
- Noun: голос – masculine, singular, instrumental → голосом
- Adjective: смешной → masculine, singular, instrumental → смешным
- Both adjective and noun match in:
  - Gender: masculine
  - Number: singular
  - Case: instrumental
Наши слова
- Noun: слово – neuter, plural, accusative → слова
- Adjective-pronoun: наш → plural, accusative (inanimate) → наши
- They match in:
  - Number: plural
  - Case: accusative (which for inanimate nouns equals nominative)
- Gender is not shown in plural forms but must still agree in the underlying paradigm.

This is standard Russian adjective–noun agreement.

Can the word order be changed, for example, to На жердочке сидит попугай и повторяет наши слова? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can change the word order:

Попугай сидит на жердочке и повторяет наши слова. (neutral: subject at the start)
На жердочке сидит попугай и повторяет наши слова.

Both are grammatically correct and keep the same basic meaning.

Nuance:

Starting with Попугай is neutral: you first introduce who is acting.
Starting with На жердочке puts slight emphasis on the location – you first picture the perch, then the parrot on it.

Russian word order is relatively flexible; changes mostly affect emphasis or what is presented as “old” vs “new” information, not the core meaning.

What is the difference between слово and слова here? Why is the plural used?

Слово means word (singular).
Слова (with stress on the last syllable: слова́) is its nominative/accusative plural: words.

In the sentence:

повторяет наши слова – repeats our words

We expect more than one word (the parrot is imitating the things people say), so the plural слова is used instead of the singular слово.

How are the words in the sentence stressed and pronounced?

Approximate stresses (stressed syllable in caps for English, accent mark in Russian):

Попуга́й – po-pu-GAI
- Stress on the last syllable: попуга́й
Сидит́ – si-DIT
- Stress on the last syllable: сиди́т
На – NA
- Unstressed but short and clear.
Жёрдочке – ZHYOR-dach-ke
- In standard spelling: жердо́чке (from жердóчка), stress on до́: жердо́чке
- Pronunciation has a soft дч cluster [дч] or close to [ч], like “jer-DOCH-ke”.
И – EE
- Like ee in see.
Повторя́ет – pov-ta-RYA-yet
- Stress on я́: повторя́ет
Наши – NA-shee
- Stress on the first syllable: на́ши
Слова́ – slo-VA
- Stress on the last syllable: слова́
Смешны́м – smesh-NYM
- Stress on the second syllable: смешны́м
Го́лосом – GO-la-sam
- Stress on го́: го́лосом

Put together, with main stress positions:

Попуга́й сиди́т на жердо́чке и повторя́ет на́ши слова́ сме́шным го́лосом.