Learn Hardcore Russian: Уставший друг тихо сидит на скамейке в парке. - A tired friend is sitting quietly on a bench in the park.

Уставший is a past active participle formed from the verb устать (to get tired). Grammatically, it behaves like a long-form adjective:

It agrees with the noun in gender, number, and case.
Here it is masculine, singular, nominative to match друг.

Literal sense: уставший друг ≈ “a friend who has become tired / who has gotten tired.”
In normal English, you’d just say “a tired friend”.

Could we use усталый друг instead of уставший друг? Is there a difference?

Both are understandable and correct, but there is a nuance:

Уставший друг – more clearly connected to a recent action or effort. It suggests “a friend who has gotten tired (from something).”
Усталый друг – more of a descriptive adjective, like a general state: “a tired-looking friend / a weary friend.”

In many everyday contexts they can be almost interchangeable, but уставший feels a bit more like the result of some activity, while усталый can sound more like a characteristic state or appearance.

Why is it уставший друг and not друг уставший? Does the order matter?

Word order in Russian is flexible, but there is a neutral, default order:

Normal: adjective + noun → уставший друг (“a tired friend”).
Друг уставший is possible, but it sounds marked and usually implies extra emphasis or contrast, like:
- Друг уставший, а я ещё полон сил. – “The friend is tired, but I still have plenty of energy.”

So in a simple descriptive sentence like yours, уставший друг is the natural choice. Друг уставший would sound more like “the friend (specifically) is tired”, with a pause in speech, often used contrastively or stylistically.

What case is друг in, and how do we know?

Друг is in the nominative singular:

It is the subject of the sentence – the one doing the action.
The verb сидит (is sitting / sits) answers “who sits?” → друг.

If we changed the sentence type, the case would change. For example:

Я вижу уставшего друга. – “I see a tired friend.”
Here друга is accusative singular (object), and уставшего agrees with it.

What form is сидит? Which infinitive does it come from, and what aspect is it?

Сидит is:

3rd person, singular, present tense
From the infinitive сидеть (to sit)
Imperfective aspect

In English it can mean both:

“A tired friend sits quietly…”
“A tired friend is sitting quietly…”

Russian doesn’t have a separate continuous form for “is sitting”; the same present tense is used for both simple and continuous meanings.

What is тихо grammatically? Why not тихий?

Тихо is an adverb, formed from the adjective тихий (quiet).

Adjectives (тихий) describe nouns:
- тихий парк – “a quiet park”
Adverbs (тихо) describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs:
- тихо сидит – “(he) sits quietly”

In the sentence:

тихо modifies сидит, so it must be an adverb.
тихий сидит would be wrong, because тихий can’t modify a verb.

Can we move тихо to another position, like друг сидит тихо? Does the meaning change?

You can move тихо without changing the basic meaning:

Уставший друг тихо сидит на скамейке в парке. – neutral, very natural.
Уставший друг сидит тихо на скамейке в парке. – also natural; a bit more focus on how he is sitting.
Друг тихо сидит… – also fine; slightly more emphasis on друг as the topic.

Russian allows relatively free word order, but:

Putting тихо immediately before or after сидит is the most natural for “quietly sits / is sitting quietly.”

Why do скамейке and парке end in -е? What case is that?

Both скамейке and парке are in the prepositional case, singular:

скамейка → скамейке
парк → парке

The prepositional case is used here because:

The preposition на (on) with a static location (no movement) takes the prepositional:
- на скамейке – “on (the) bench”
The preposition в (in) with a static location also takes the prepositional:
- в парке – “in (the) park”

If there were motion toward the bench or park, you would use different cases (typically the accusative), but here the friend is just located on the bench, in the park.

Why is it на скамейке but в парке? How do I know when to use в and when to use на?

Choice between в and на is mostly lexical and conventional, though there are patterns:

В is often used for enclosed spaces / volumes:
- в парке – in the park
- в комнате – in the room
- в городе – in the city
На is often used for surfaces and some open or “flat” areas:
- на скамейке – on the bench (a surface)
- на столе – on the table
- на пляже – on the beach

So here:

в парке – the friend is inside the area of the park.
на скамейке – the friend is on the surface of the bench.

How does уставший agree with друг? How would it change with feminine or plural nouns?

Adjectives/participles like уставший must agree with the noun in:

Gender
Number
Case

Here:

друг – masculine, singular, nominative
So we use уставший – masculine, singular, nominative.

Other examples:

Feminine:
- уставшая подруга сидит… – “a tired (female) friend is sitting…”
Neuter:
- уставшее животное сидит… – “a tired animal is sitting…”
Plural:
- уставшие друзья сидят… – “tired friends are sitting…”

If you change the case, the ending changes too, e.g.:

Accusative masculine: Я вижу уставшего друга.

How would I say “My tired friend is quietly sitting on a bench in the park” in Russian?

The most straightforward version:

Мой уставший друг тихо сидит на скамейке в парке.

Notes:

Мой (my) goes before the adjective: мой уставший друг.
The rest of the sentence stays the same.
You could also say Уставший мой друг… for emphasis on мой, but that sounds more poetic / emotional.

How can I put this sentence in the past or future tense?

Past tense (masculine subject, as with друг):

Уставший друг тихо сидел на скамейке в парке.
– “The tired friend was sitting / sat quietly on a bench in the park.”

If the friend is female (подруга):

Уставшая подруга тихо сидела на скамейке в парке.

Future tense (3rd person singular):

Уставший друг будет тихо сидеть на скамейке в парке.
– “The tired friend will be sitting quietly on a bench in the park.”

Can we change the word order a lot, like Тихо сидит уставший друг на скамейке в парке? Is that still correct?

Yes, Russian allows significant word-order variation, and Тихо сидит уставший друг на скамейке в парке is:

Grammatically correct
Understandable

However, compared to the neutral:

Уставший друг тихо сидит на скамейке в парке.

the reordered version:

Sounds more poetic or expressive
Puts more initial emphasis on тихо (the manner of sitting).

For everyday, neutral speech or writing, the original order is more typical.

What is the difference between уставший друг сидит… and друг устал и сидит…?

Both involve a tired friend, but the structure is different:

Уставший друг тихо сидит на скамейке в парке.
- Уставший modifies друг as an attribute.
- Literally “The friend, who has gotten tired, is quietly sitting…”
- Focus is on describing what kind of friend is sitting (a tired one).
Друг устал и сидит на скамейке в парке.
- Устал is a short-form predicate adjective / past tense form meaning “got tired / is tired”.
- Structure is like: “The friend got tired and (now) is sitting on a bench in the park.”
- Focus is more on the event or state “he became tired,” then he sits.

So:

Уставший друг сидит… – describes a tired friend who is sitting.
Друг устал и сидит… – tells a mini-story: “the friend got tired, and (so) he is sitting.”