Моя сестра любит делать зарядку утром дома.

Breakdown of Моя сестра любит делать зарядку утром дома.

мой
my
любить
to love
сестра
the sister
дома
at home
утром
in the morning
делать зарядку
to exercise
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Questions & Answers about Моя сестра любит делать зарядку утром дома.

What is the grammatical role and case of сестра in this sentence?

Сестра is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case, singular.

  • Dictionary form: сестра (sister) – nominative singular, feminine.
  • The sentence answers: Who likes to do exercises? → Моя сестраMy sister (subject).
Why is it моя сестра, not мой сестра or моё сестра?

The possessive pronoun must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

  • сестра is feminine, singular, nominative.
  • The correct form of мой (my) for feminine nouns in the nominative is моя.

So:

  • мой брат (my brother – masculine)
  • моя сестра (my sister – feminine)
  • моё окно (my window – neuter)
  • мои друзья (my friends – plural)
Why is it любит делать, not just любит or делает?

In Russian, verbs like любить (to like, to love) are often followed by an infinitive to express liking an activity:

  • любить делать что?зарядку

The pattern is:

  • [кто?] любит [делать что?]
  • Моя сестра любит делать зарядку. – My sister likes to do exercise.

If you say only:

  • Моя сестра делает зарядку утром дома. – My sister does exercises at home in the morning.
    (a fact about what she does, not that she likes it)
  • Моя сестра любит зарядку. – My sister likes exercise / likes gymnastics (treating зарядка as a thing, not the action of doing it).
Why is зарядку and not зарядка?

Зарядку is the accusative case, feminine singular of зарядка.

  • Dictionary form: зарядка (feminine noun, nominative singular)
  • Accusative singular (feminine, ending in -а): зарядку

It is in the accusative because it is the direct object of the verb:

  • делать что?зарядку

So:

  • делать зарядку – to do (physical) exercises
  • читать книгу – to read a book
  • писать письмо – to write a letter
What exactly does зарядка mean here? Is it “charging” or “exercise”?

The noun зарядка has several meanings, depending on context:

  1. Morning exercise, workout, physical exercises – this is the meaning in your sentence.
    • делать зарядку – to do exercises / to work out (typically morning gymnastics).
  2. Charger (for a phone, laptop, etc.)
    • зарядка для телефона – phone charger.
  3. Charging (the process of charging a battery).
    • зарядка батареи – charging of the battery.

In Моя сестра любит делать зарядку утром дома, it clearly means physical exercise.

Why do we use делать and not сделать?

Делать is imperfective, сделать is perfective.

  • After verbs of liking/wanting/habit (like любить, хотеть, нравиться), Russian normally uses the imperfective infinitive:
    • любить делать что-то – to like doing something (a general habit).
    • Моя сестра любит делать зарядку.

If you said любить сделать, it would sound strange or wrong in most contexts. Perfective is used for a single, completed action, which does not fit the idea of a general preference or habit.

What case is утром and why is it used instead of утро?

Утром is the instrumental case of утро (morning).

  • утро – nominative singular (the morning as a thing).
  • утром – instrumental singular, used adverbially, meaning “in the morning / during the morning”.

Russian often uses the instrumental without a preposition to express time when something happens:

  • утром – in the morning
  • днём – in the afternoon / during the day
  • вечером – in the evening
  • ночью – at night

So делать зарядку утром = to do exercises in the morning.

Why is there no preposition like “в” or “по” before утром?

For common parts of the day, Russian often prefers the bare instrumental case instead of a preposition:

  • утром – in the morning
  • вечером – in the evening
  • днём – in the afternoon
  • ночью – at night

You can use other structures, but the meaning changes slightly:

  • по утрам – in the mornings / every morning, emphasizes regularity.
  • рано утром – early in the morning.

In your sentence, утром alone is the most natural way to say in the morning.

What is the difference between дома and в доме?

Дома and в доме are related but not the same:

  • дома is an adverb meaning “at home”.
    • Моя сестра делает зарядку дома. – My sister does exercises at home.
  • в доме is a prepositional phrase meaning “in the house (building)”.
    • Моя сестра живёт в доме на окраине. – My sister lives in a house on the outskirts.

So:

  • дома → focus on home as a place where you live.
  • в доме → focus on inside a building, more physical and literal.

In your sentence утром дома, дома = at home (not at the gym, not outside, etc.).

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Моя сестра любит утром дома делать зарядку?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, especially with adverbials like утром and дома. Several variants are grammatically correct:

  • Моя сестра любит делать зарядку утром дома. (neutral, standard)
  • Моя сестра любит делать зарядку дома утром. (slight emphasis on at home)
  • Моя сестра любит утром делать зарядку дома. (slight emphasis that she likes doing it in the morning)
  • Утром моя сестра любит делать зарядку дома. (stronger emphasis on the time: As for mornings, my sister likes…)

However, very jumbled orders can sound unnatural or overly “poetic” for ordinary speech. Your original word order is the most neutral and typical.

Why is the verb любит and not любят?

The verb must agree with the subject in person and number.

  • Subject: Моя сестра – third person singular (she).
  • Verb: любить conjugated in 3rd person singular → любит.

Patterns for любить (present tense):

  • я люблю – I like
  • ты любишь – you like (singular, informal)
  • он/она любит – he/she likes
  • мы любим – we like
  • вы любите – you like (plural/formal)
  • они любят – they like

So они любят, but она любит.

Could you leave out моя and just say Сестра любит делать зарядку утром дома?

Yes, grammatically you can say:

  • Сестра любит делать зарядку утром дома.

But the meaning changes slightly:

  • Моя сестра… – clearly my sister.
  • Сестра…the sister (could be “our sister,” “his sister,” or “the sister in question”), relying on context.

In real conversation, people often drop the possessive when it is obvious whose sister it is, but for learners and in isolated sentences, Моя сестра is clearer.

Does делать зарядку always mean “to work out,” or are there other ways to say it?

Делать зарядку specifically suggests doing (usually morning) exercises, often light gymnastic exercises or a short workout.

Other common expressions:

  • заниматься спортом – to do sports / to be into sports (more general).
  • ходить в спортзал – to go to the gym.
  • тренироваться – to train, to practice (often for athletes).
  • делать упражнения – to do exercises (in general).

In the context of a morning routine, делать зарядку is the most idiomatic phrase.