Мы смеёмся над шуткой друга.

We are laughing at a friend's joke.

Breakdown of Мы смеёмся над шуткой друга.

• друг: the friend
• мы: we
• шутка: the joke
• смеяться над: to laugh at

Questions & Answers about Мы смеёмся над шуткой друга.

What exactly does смеёмся mean, and how is it formed?

Смеёмся is 1st person plural, present tense of the verb смеяться (to laugh).

• Infinitive: смеяться – to laugh
• Present tense (roughly):
  • я смеюсь – I laugh
  • ты смеёшься – you laugh (singular, informal)
  • он/она/оно смеётся – he/she/it laughs
  • мы смеёмся – we laugh
  • вы смеётесь – you laugh (plural or formal)
  • они смеются – they laugh

So мы смеёмся = we are laughing / we laugh.

Why does смеёмся end in -ся? What does that do?

The -ся (or -сь) ending marks a reflexive or “middle” verb form in Russian.

For смеяться, the reflexive suffix -ся is simply part of the normal verb “to laugh” – there is no separate non-reflexive form смеять meaning “to laugh”. You just have to learn смеяться as the dictionary form.

In other verbs, -ся can mean:

• “oneself”: мы моемся – we wash (ourselves)
• mutual action: они обнимаются – they hug each other
• passive-like: дверь открывается – the door opens / is being opened

But here it’s just built into the meaning of смеяться – to laugh.

Why is the preposition над used? In English we say “laugh at,” not “laugh over/above.”

Russian uses над + instrumental case to express “laugh at someone/something” in the sense of making fun of:

• смеяться над шуткой – to laugh at a joke
• смеяться над человеком – to laugh at a person (make fun of them)

Literally, над means “over / above”, but with смеяться it’s an idiomatic combination, best translated as “laugh at”.

You cannot replace над with a direct object in the accusative the way English does; the natural pattern is:

смеяться над + кем/чем (instrumental)
to laugh at + someone/something

Why is шуткой (joke) in that form, not шутка?

Шуткой is the instrumental singular of шутка.

The preposition над always requires the instrumental case:

• над чем? – над шуткой (over / at the joke)
• над кем? – над другом (over / at the friend)

For feminine nouns ending in -ка (like шутка), the instrumental singular typically ends in -ой:

• шутка → шуткой
• книга → книгой
• девушка → девушкой

So над шуткой is “at the joke,” grammatically “over the joke.”

Why is друга (friend) in that form? Why not just друг?

Друга is the genitive singular of друг (friend).

In шутка друга or шуткой друга, друга means “of (the) friend” = friend’s.

Russian often expresses possession with the genitive case:

• дом брата – the brother’s house (literally “house of brother”)
• машина сестры – the sister’s car (literally “car of sister”)
• шутка друга – the friend’s joke

So:

• шутка друга = friend’s joke
• над шуткой друга = at the friend’s joke

Only шуткой is in instrumental (because of над). Друга is genitive because it shows possession (“whose joke?”).

Why isn’t друга also in the instrumental case after над?

The preposition над governs only the noun it directly refers to: шуткой.

In this phrase:

• над шуткой – “at the joke” (instrumental, required by над)
• друга – tells us whose joke it is (genitive of possession)

Grammatically, the structure is:

смеёмся над [шуткой друга]
laugh at [the joke of the friend]

We are not “over the friend”; we are “over the joke.” The friend is just the possessor of the joke, so he takes the genitive, not instrumental.

Could we say this without мы? Is the subject pronoun necessary?

Yes, Russian often drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows the subject clearly.

So both are correct:

• Мы смеёмся над шуткой друга.
• Смеёмся над шуткой друга.

The meaning is the same (we laugh at the friend’s joke). The personal ending -ёмся already signals “we.”

You usually keep мы if you want to:

• emphasize the subject (Мы смеёмся, а они нет – WE are laughing, but they aren’t)
• avoid ambiguity in more complex sentences

Can the word order be different, like Над шуткой друга мы смеёмся?

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and all of these are grammatically correct:

• Мы смеёмся над шуткой друга. (neutral, most common)
• Мы над шуткой друга смеёмся.
• Над шуткой друга мы смеёмся.

Changing the order usually affects emphasis, not the core meaning.

• Starting with Мы stresses who is laughing.
• Starting with Над шуткой друга stresses what we are laughing at (for example, contrasting it with something else).

In neutral context, Мы смеёмся над шуткой друга is the default.

What’s the difference between смеяться над другом and смеяться с другом?

Big difference in meaning:

• смеяться над другом – to laugh at your friend, make fun of your friend
  (can sound negative or mocking)
• смеяться с другом – to laugh with your friend, laugh together with them

In your sentence, смеёмся над шуткой друга, we are not making fun of the friend; we’re laughing at his joke. This is usually neutral or positive.

How is смеёмся pronounced, and what’s going on with the letter ё?

Смеёмся is pronounced roughly as [smye-YOM-sya]:

• сме- – “smye-”
• -ём- – stressed “yom” (like “yom” in “yoga” + “om”)
• -ся – “sya”

About ё:

• ё always sounds like “yo” and is always stressed.
• In real texts, Russians often type е instead of ё, so you might see смеемся instead of смеёмся. But the correct pronunciation is still with “yo”: сме*ёмся*.

So when you see смеёмся / смеемся, pronounce it smyómsya (smye-YOM-sya).

Is смеяться imperfective or perfective? How would you say “we burst out laughing” or “we had a laugh”?

Смеяться is imperfective – it describes an ongoing or repeated action: to laugh, be laughing.

Common related perfective verbs:

• засмеяться – to start laughing, burst out laughing
  
  • Мы засмеялись – We started laughing / burst out laughing.
• рассмеяться – similar to засмеяться, often “to break into laughter”
• посмеяться – to laugh for a while, have a bit of a laugh
  
  • Мы посмеялись над шуткой друга – We had a laugh at the friend’s joke.

So:

• Мы смеёмся над шуткой друга. – We are laughing at the friend’s joke.
• Мы засмеялись над шуткой друга. – We burst out laughing at the friend’s joke.
• Мы посмеялись над шуткой друга. – We laughed for a while / had a laugh at the friend’s joke.