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После этого мне нужно было проверить, заряжается ли телефон и включается ли свет.

После этого мне нужно было проверить, заряжается ли телефон и включается ли свет.
After that I needed to check whether the phone was charging and whether the light was turning on.

Breakdown of После этого мне нужно было проверить, заряжается ли телефон и включается ли свет.

я
I
быть
to be
телефон
the phone
и
and
после
after
нужно
to need
проверить
to check
свет
the light
ли
whether
это
that
заряжаться
to charge (be charging)
включаться
to turn on (be turning on)
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Questions & Answers about После этого мне нужно было проверить, заряжается ли телефон и включается ли свет.

Why does после take этого (genitive), and what exactly does после этого mean?

После is a preposition that requires the genitive case, so это becomes этого. The phrase после этого literally means after this/that, and it’s a very common way to refer back to a previous event in a story: After that…

Why does the sentence use мне (dative) instead of я?

Because мне нужно было… is an impersonal construction meaning it was necessary for me… / I needed to… Russian often expresses necessity without a grammatical subject like я.

  • мне = “to me / for me” (dative of the person who has the need)
  • нужно было = “was necessary” (past)
What is the grammar of нужно было? Why is было neuter?

Нужно is a predicative word meaning necessary. In the past, Russian often adds было (past of быть, “to be”) to mark past time: нужно было = “was necessary.”
It’s neuter singular because the construction is impersonal (no explicit subject), so Russian uses the default neuter form.

Why is проверить used, and what aspect is it?

Проверить is perfective: it focuses on completing the check (a single finished action). That fits the idea: you needed to do a check and be done with it.
The imperfective counterpart would be проверять, which would suggest an ongoing/repeated process of checking.

What does the comma after проверить do?

It introduces an indirect yes/no question (a subordinate clause) describing what needed to be checked:
проверить, [заряжается ли…] = “to check whether…”

What does ли mean here, and where does it go?

Ли marks an embedded yes/no question: whether / if. It typically comes right after the word being questioned (often the verb):

  • заряжается ли = “whether (it) is charging”
  • включается ли = “whether (it) turns on”
Why are заряжается and включается in the present tense if the main verb is past (нужно было)?

In Russian, after verbs like проверить (to check), the subordinate clause often uses the present tense to describe the condition being tested as a general/current fact at that moment:
“I needed to check whether it charges / whether the light turns on.”
It’s not “present in real time,” but “present relative to the situation being checked.”

What does the -ся in заряжается and включается mean?

-ся forms a reflexive/mediopassive verb. Here it often corresponds to English be + past participle or an intransitive meaning:

  • телефон заряжается ≈ “the phone is charging / is being charged”
  • свет включается ≈ “the light turns on / is switched on”
Could заряжается ли телефон mean “whether the phone is charging itself”?

No, not necessarily. With many everyday verbs, -ся doesn’t mean literal self-action. For devices, заряжается naturally means is charging (regardless of who plugged it in). It’s the normal Russian way to express that state/process.

Why is ли repeated: заряжается ли … и включается ли …? Can you use ли only once?

Repeating ли is the clearest and most common way when you have two separate yes/no checks.
You can sometimes use ли once if the structure is very tight and obviously shared, but repeating it avoids ambiguity and sounds more natural here because you’re checking two different things: charging and turning on.

Why is телефон nominative and not accusative?

Because телефон is the subject of заряжается (“the phone charges/is charging”). You are not directly “checking the phone” as an object; you are checking whether the phone is charging. In that subordinate clause, телефон functions as the grammatical subject, so it’s nominative.

Is включается ли свет the same as включен ли свет?

Not exactly:

  • включается ли свет asks about the action/process/ability: “Does the light turn on (when I try)?”
  • включен ли свет asks about the state: “Is the light on (right now)?”
    In your sentence, the idea is usually testing functionality, so включается fits well.