Вечером мы долго слушали прибой и смотрели на тёмную воду.

Вечером is a very common Russian way to mean in the evening or during the evening.

Russian often uses the instrumental case without a preposition for parts of the day and some time expressions:

• утром = in the morning
• днём = in the daytime / during the day
• вечером = in the evening
• ночью = at night

So Вечером here functions like an adverb of time. English needs a preposition (in the evening), but Russian does not.

Russian word order is much more flexible than English word order. Starting with Вечером puts the time first and sets the scene:

• Вечером мы долго слушали прибой... = In the evening, we listened to the surf for a long time...

This sounds very natural in Russian. The sentence could be rearranged, but this order is good for narration and description.

Yes, Russian often can omit subject pronouns when they are understood from the verb form.

Here, слушали and смотрели are both past plural, so the subject is clearly we / they from the verb alone. Because of that, Russian could say:

• Вечером долго слушали прибой и смотрели на тёмную воду.

But мы is included here for clarity or emphasis. It sounds a bit more explicit: we were the ones doing this.

Долго means for a long time or a long while.

It is an adverb, so it describes how long the actions lasted:

• долго слушали = listened for a long time
• долго смотрели = looked for a long time

It applies naturally to both verbs in this sentence.

Both verbs are imperfective, because the sentence describes an ongoing, extended activity, not a single completed result.

• слушали = were listening / listened
• смотрели = were looking / watched

The imperfective is used because the focus is on the process and duration:

• they were listening to the surf
• they were looking at the dark water
• this went on долго

If Russian used perfective verbs here, it would sound more like completed, bounded actions, which is not the idea.

They are past tense plural forms.

1. слушали

From слушать = to listen
Past tense stem + plural ending -и:

• masculine singular: слушал
• feminine singular: слушала
• neuter singular: слушало
• plural: слушали

2. смотрели

From смотреть = to look / watch
Past tense forms:

• смотрел
• смотрела
• смотрело
• смотрели

Russian past tense agrees in gender in the singular and in number in the plural.

Прибой means surf, the sound of waves breaking, or the breakers near the shore.

It is a common literary or descriptive word in Russian, especially in seaside contexts. In this sentence, слушали прибой means they were listening to the sound of the waves breaking on the shore.

So it is not just the sea in general; it is specifically the surf.

This is because the two verbs govern their objects differently.

слушать + direct object

• слушать музыку
• слушать радио
• слушать прибой

So прибой is a direct object.

смотреть на + accusative

When смотреть means to look at, it normally takes на + accusative:

• смотреть на море
• смотреть на небо
• смотреть на воду

So:

• смотрели на тёмную воду = looked at the dark water

This is a very important pattern to remember:

• слушать что?
• смотреть на что?

Because на with смотреть requires the accusative case, and вода is a feminine singular noun.

Noun

• nominative: вода
• accusative: воду

Adjective

• nominative feminine singular: тёмная
• accusative feminine singular: тёмную

So:

• на тёмную воду = at the dark water

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

Russian has no articles like English a / an / the.

So Russian simply says:

• прибой
• тёмную воду

Whether English should use the, a, or no article depends on context and translation. In this sentence, English naturally uses the:

• the surf
• the dark water

Russian leaves that idea to context.

The main stresses are:

• ве́чером
• мы
• до́лго
• слу́шали
• прибо́й
• смотре́ли
• на
• тёмную
• во́ду

A rough pronunciation guide:

VYE-che-ram my DOHL-ga SLOO-sha-li pree-BOY ee sma-TRYE-li na TYOM-noo-yu VO-doo

A few useful notes:

• ё in тёмную is always stressed.
• г in долго is pronounced like v in standard speech: roughly до́лва in actual pronunciation, though it is still spelled долго.
• прибой has final stress: прибо́й.

In this sentence, смотрели на тёмную воду is best understood as looked at the dark water, not watched in the English sense of watching a film or program.

Russian смотреть can mean both look and watch, but the pattern helps:

• смотреть на что-то = look at something
• смотреть фильм / телевизор = watch a film / TV

Because the sentence has на тёмную воду, the meaning is clearly looked at.