Мы сели на бревно у воды и долго слушали, как шумит лес.

Because сели means sat down — it focuses on the action of taking a seat.

• сесть / садиться = to sit down
• сидеть = to be sitting

So:

• Мы сели на бревно = We sat down on a log
• Мы сидели на бревне = We were sitting on a log

Russian often makes this distinction more clearly than English.

This is because на can take different cases depending on meaning:

• на + accusative = movement onto something
• на + prepositional = location on something

Here, the verb сели describes movement to a new position, so Russian uses the accusative:

• на бревно = onto the log

Compare:

• Мы сели на бревно = We sat down on the log
• Мы сидели на бревне = We were sitting on the log

So the case changes with the idea of movement vs location.

It is accusative singular.

The noun бревно is neuter, and for many inanimate neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative forms look the same:

• nominative: бревно
• accusative: бревно

So even though the form does not change, the function is accusative because it follows на with motion.

У воды literally means by the water or near the water.

The preposition у usually means at, by, or near, and it requires the genitive case. That is why вода becomes воды:

• nominative: вода
• genitive: воды

So:

• у воды = near the water

This is a very common Russian way to express location near something.

Because слушать and слышать are different verbs in Russian.

• слушать = to listen
• слышать = to hear

In this sentence, the idea is that they were actively paying attention to the sound, so слушали is the right choice.

Compare:

• Мы слушали лес = We listened to the forest
• Мы слышали лес = We heard the forest

The first is intentional; the second is more about perception.

Because the sentence describes an ongoing action: they listened for a long time.

The adverb долго fits naturally with the imperfective aspect, which is often used for:

• duration
• process
• repeated or ongoing action

So:

• долго слушали = listened for a long time

If you used a perfective form, the focus would shift more toward completing the action, which is not the main idea here.

Because как шумит лес is a subordinate clause.

Russian uses commas very regularly to separate main clauses from subordinate clauses. Here the structure is:

• main clause: Мы сели на бревно у воды и долго слушали
• subordinate clause: как шумит лес

So the comma is required.

This is much stricter in Russian than in English, where commas are often more flexible.

Yes, как literally means how, but in sentences like this it often introduces the thing being perceived:

• слушали, как шумит лес

This is very natural in Russian and can often be translated more idiomatically into English as:

• listened to the forest rustling
• listened to the sound of the forest
• listened to how the forest sounded

So как keeps its basic meaning of how, but the whole clause works like the object of listened.

Both word orders are possible in Russian.

• лес шумит
• шумит лес

In this sentence, как шумит лес sounds natural and slightly more flowing after слушали. Russian word order is more flexible than English and is often used for rhythm, emphasis, or style rather than basic grammar.

The subject is still лес, and the verb is still шумит.

So this is not a different grammar pattern — just a different word order.

Шумит comes from шуметь, which means to make noise, to rustle, to roar, or to murmur, depending on context.

When talking about a forest, шумит often refers to the sound of:

• wind in the trees
• leaves rustling
• the general living sound of the forest

So it is broader than just make noise. In literary or natural descriptions, it often sounds poetic.

Yes, Russian often omits subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form.

So you could say:

• Сели на бревно у воды и долго слушали, как шумит лес.

and it could still mean We sat down on a log by the water and listened for a long time to the forest rustling, depending on context.

However, мы may be included to make the subject explicit, to create a smoother narrative style, or to contrast with someone else.

Because the subject is plural: мы.

In the Russian past tense, verbs agree with the subject in number, and in the singular they also agree in gender.

For example:

• я сел / я села = I sat down
• он сел = he sat down
• она села = she sat down
• мы сели = we sat down
• мы слушали = we listened

So -ли is the normal plural past-tense ending.