Он говорит открыто и честно.

He speaks openly and honestly.

Breakdown of Он говорит открыто и честно.

• говорить: to speak
• и: and
• он: he
• честно: honestly
• открыто: openly

Questions & Answers about Он говорит открыто и честно.

In Он говорит открыто и честно, what part of speech are открыто and честно? Are they adjectives or adverbs?

In this sentence, открыто and честно are adverbs, not adjectives.

• The adjectives are открытый (open, frank) and честный (honest).
• Their corresponding adverbs are открыто (openly) and честно (honestly).

You can see they modify the verb говорит (speaks), describing how he speaks. That is the typical role of adverbs.

Why do открыто and честно look like neuter adjectives in Он говорит открыто и честно? Are they agreeing with он or говорит?

They are not agreeing with anything here. The -о ending is simply the standard way to form many adverbs from adjectives in Russian:

• открытый → открыто
• честный → честно
• быстрый → быстро (fast → quickly)
• тихий → тихо (quiet → quietly)

So even though открыто and честно look like neuter singular short-form adjectives, in this sentence they function purely as adverbs and do not agree in gender, number, or case with он or говорит.

Can I change the word order and say Он открыто и честно говорит instead of Он говорит открыто и честно?

Yes, that word order is also possible and correct:

• Он говорит открыто и честно.
• Он открыто и честно говорит.

Both mean the same thing: He speaks openly and honestly.

The difference is very small and mostly about rhythm and emphasis. In many contexts they are interchangeable. If anything, putting the adverbs right before the verb (Он открыто и честно говорит) can slightly emphasize the manner of speaking, but in everyday speech both versions sound natural.

Could I say Он открытый и честный говорит instead of Он говорит открыто и честно?

No, Он открытый и честный говорит is incorrect.

Here’s why:

• открытый and честный are adjectives, used to describe nouns:
  • Он открытый и честный человек. – He is an open and honest person.
• In Он говорит открыто и честно, we are describing how he speaks, not what kind of person he is, so we need adverbs:
  • открыто, честно → describe the verb говорит.

So:

• describing the person: Он открытый и честный (человек).
• describing the way he speaks: Он говорит открыто и честно.

Why is it говорит and not скажет or сказал in Он говорит открыто и честно?

говорит is present tense, imperfective, and here it describes a general, repeated or characteristic behavior:

• Он говорит открыто и честно.
  He (generally) speaks / tends to speak openly and honestly.

If you say:

• Он сказал это открыто и честно. – He said that openly and honestly.
  → one completed action in the past, perfective сказал.

• Он скажет это открыто и честно. – He will say that openly and honestly.
  → a single future action, perfective скажет.

So говорит is used because we’re talking about his usual way of speaking, not a single past or future statement.

Is there any difference in nuance between открыто and честно? They both sound similar: “openly, honestly”.

They overlap, but they are not identical:

• открыто – openly, frankly, without hiding, with transparency
  Focus: not hiding facts, being straightforward, not secretive.

  • Он открыто говорит о своих ошибках. – He speaks openly about his mistakes.

• честно – honestly, truthfully, with integrity
  Focus: telling the truth, not lying or cheating.

  • Он честно говорит, что не знает. – He honestly says he doesn’t know.

In Он говорит открыто и честно, you’re stressing both:

• He doesn’t hide things (открыто),
• and he tells the truth (честно).

Can I drop Он and just say Говорит открыто и честно?

Yes, Он can be omitted in Russian if the subject is clear from context. Russian doesn’t require subject pronouns as strictly as English.

• Он говорит открыто и честно. – neutral, full sentence.
• Говорит открыто и честно. – could mean:
  • He/She speaks openly and honestly (if we already know who we’re talking about),
  • or even Someone is speaking openly and honestly in a more impersonal way.

Without Он, it sounds a bit more contextual/elliptical and is more typical in dialogue or narrative where the subject is obvious.

Why is there no comma before и in Он говорит открыто и честно?

Because открыто and честно are just two homogeneous adverbs joined by и (and).

The rule is similar to English: you do not put a comma between two simple items linked by and:

• English: He speaks openly and honestly. (no comma)
• Russian: Он говорит открыто и честно. (no comma)

You would use a comma in longer lists:

• Он говорит открыто, честно и уверенно.
  He speaks openly, honestly, and confidently.

How do you pronounce Он говорит открыто и честно? Where is the stress?

Here is the stress marked:

• Он – [он] (single syllable, no stress mark)
• говори́т – go-vo-RIT (stress on -рит)
• откры́то – at-KRY-ta (stress on -кры́-)
• и – [ee] (short)
• че́стно – CHES-tna (stress on че́-)

Rough transliteration with stressed syllables in caps:

• Он говорИт открЫто и ЧЕстно.

Note:

• Unstressed о is usually pronounced closer to a in casual speech: ан гаварИт аткрЫта и ЧЕстна (approximate).

How would you say “He doesn’t speak openly and honestly” in Russian, based on this sentence?

You just add не before the verb:

• Он не говорит открыто и честно.
  He doesn’t speak openly and honestly.

If you want to be stronger, you can add an intensifier:

• Он совсем не говорит открыто и честно. – He absolutely doesn’t speak openly and honestly.
• Он никогда не говорит открыто и честно. – He never speaks openly and honestly.