Она пожала плечами и сказала, что сама пока не знает ответа.

Yes. Пожать плечами is the standard Russian expression for to shrug (one’s shoulders).

A few useful points:

• пожала = past tense, feminine, from пожать
• плечами = instrumental plural of плечи (shoulders)

Russian often uses body-part nouns with the instrumental case in expressions of movement or gesture:

• пожать плечами = to shrug
• махнуть рукой = to wave a hand / to give up on something
• кивнуть головой = to nod

So literally it is something like she gave a shrug with her shoulders, but in natural English it is simply she shrugged.

Because the subject is она (she).

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number:

• он пожал = he shrugged
• она пожала = she shrugged
• оно пожало = it shrugged
• они пожали = they shrugged

The same happens with сказала:

• она сказала = she said

So both пожала and сказала are feminine because the subject is она.

Both describe completed actions in the story:

• пожала плечами = she gave a shrug / she shrugged
• сказала = she said

Perfective verbs are very common in narration when the speaker is presenting whole completed events.

Compare:

• она пожала плечами и сказала... = she shrugged and said...
• она пожимала плечами и говорила... = she was shrugging and speaking / used to shrug and say...

In this sentence, the speaker is not focusing on duration or repetition, but on two finished actions, so perfective is natural.

This is a very common question for English speakers.

Russian does not follow English-style strict tense backshifting as much. After a past reporting verb like сказала, Russian often keeps the tense that matches the situation being described.

So:

• сказала, что не знает = she said that she doesn’t know / didn’t know (at that point)
• сказала, что не знала = she said that she had not known / didn’t know before

In your sentence, не знает presents the lack of knowledge as current at the time of speaking in that reported moment. It is the most natural choice here.

English often shifts:

• She said that she didn’t know the answer.

Russian often keeps present:

• Она сказала, что не знает ответа.

That is completely normal.

Сама adds emphasis. Here it means something like:

• she herself
• even she
• she personally

So что сама пока не знает ответа suggests:

• she herself does not know the answer yet
• even she doesn’t know the answer yet

It often highlights that the person might be expected to know.

Compare:

• Она не знает ответа. = She doesn’t know the answer.
• Она сама не знает ответа. = She herself doesn’t know the answer.

It adds emphasis, not a completely different basic meaning.

Here пока means for now, yet, or so far.

So:

• сама пока не знает ответа = she herself doesn’t know the answer yet / for now

This use of пока often suggests that the situation may change later.

Compare:

• Я пока не готов. = I’m not ready yet.
• Мы пока не решили. = We haven’t decided yet.

Do not confuse this with another common meaning of пока:

• Пока! = Bye!
• Пока я читал, он спал. = While I was reading, he was sleeping.

In your sentence, it clearly means yet / for now.

Because after negation, Russian very often uses the genitive instead of the accusative, especially with verbs like знать in certain contexts.

Here:

• ответ = nominative
• ответа = genitive singular

So:

• знает ответ = knows the answer
• не знает ответа = does not know the answer

This is a very common pattern called the genitive under negation.

That said, modern Russian can sometimes also use the accusative after negation, depending on meaning and style. But in this sentence, не знает ответа sounds very natural and standard.

It is singular because the meaning is the answer, not answers.

Forms:

• ответ = answer
• ответа = of the answer / answer (genitive singular after negation here)
• ответы = answers
• ответов = of answers / answers (genitive plural)

So:

• не знает ответа = doesn’t know the answer
• не знает ответов = doesn’t know the answers

The singular matches the meaning of the original sentence.

Russian has no articles, so there is no separate word for the or a.

That means ответ can mean:

• an answer
• the answer

The exact meaning comes from context.

In this sentence, ответа is naturally understood as the answer, because the context suggests a specific answer being referred to.

This is very normal in Russian:

• Я купил книгу. = I bought a/the book.
• Она знает ответ. = She knows the answer.

Context tells you which one is meant.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, but the given order is very natural and neutral.

This order works well because:

1. Она introduces the subject.
2. пожала плечами и сказала gives the sequence of actions.
3. что... introduces the content of what she said.
4. Inside the clause, сама пока places emphasis neatly before the verb.

You could change the order slightly for emphasis, for example:

• Она сказала, что пока сама не знает ответа.
• Она пожала плечами и сказала, что пока не знает ответа сама.

But these alternatives may sound slightly different in emphasis or less neutral. The original version sounds smooth and natural.

Usually, no. In this kind of sentence, что is normally required.

• Она сказала, что сама пока не знает ответа. = correct
• Она сказала, сама пока не знает ответа. = not natural for standard Russian in this meaning

Russian generally keeps что when introducing a reported statement:

• Он сказал, что придёт. = He said that he would come.
• Я думаю, что это правильно. = I think that this is correct.

In English, that is often optional. In Russian, что usually is not.

Yes. сам changes according to gender, number, and case.

Here it agrees with она, so it becomes сама.

Basic forms:

• сам = masculine
• сама = feminine
• само = neuter
• сами = plural

Examples:

• Он сам не знает. = He himself doesn’t know.
• Она сама не знает. = She herself doesn’t know.
• Они сами не знают. = They themselves don’t know.

So сама is feminine because it refers to она.

No, it is perfectly normal and natural in everyday Russian. Nothing in the sentence is unusually formal.

A native speaker could easily say this in conversation, and you could also see it in writing or fiction.

The sentence sounds natural because:

• пожала плечами is a standard expression
• сказала, что... is ordinary reported speech
• сама пока не знает ответа is idiomatic and clear

So this is a very useful model sentence for learners.