Брат хотел что-то сказать, но только кашлянул и замолчал.

Russian often leaves out possessives and articles when the context is clear.

So Брат хотел... simply means Brother wanted... or more naturally in English, My/The brother wanted..., depending on context.

Russian has:

• no articles like a or the
• no need to say my unless it matters

If the speaker means their own brother and that is obvious from the story, Брат is enough.

Хотел is the normal past tense of хотеть = to want.

Here it describes a state or intention:

• Брат хотел что-то сказать = Brother wanted to say something

Захотел usually means started to want, suddenly wanted, or felt the desire to. It often sounds more like a new desire arising at that moment.

So:

• хотел сказать = he wanted to say it
• захотел сказать = he suddenly felt like saying it / he came to want to say it

In this sentence, the plain idea of intention fits better, so хотел is the natural choice.

Both can mean something, but they are not always interchangeable.

Here, что-то сказать means to say something, with the idea that there was some actual thing he meant to say, even if unspecified.

Что-нибудь is more common when the meaning is:

• anything at all
• something or other
• often in suggestions, requests, or open choice contexts

Compare:

• Он хотел что-то сказать. = He wanted to say something.
• Скажи что-нибудь. = Say something / anything.

So что-то is the better choice because the sentence refers to a specific but unnamed thing he intended to say.

This is an aspect and meaning question.

• сказать = to say, usually one complete act of saying something
• говорить = to speak, to talk, or to say in a more ongoing/repeated sense

After хотел, the infinitive сказать fits because the idea is that he wanted to make one utterance, to get some words out.

So:

• хотел сказать = wanted to say something
• хотел говорить would sound more like wanted to speak / wanted to be talking

Since he was about to say one thing, сказать is the natural verb.

In Russian, aspect does not simply mean whether the action really happened. It shows how the action is viewed.

Here, сказать is perfective because it refers to a single complete act he intended to perform:

• he wanted to say something once, as a whole event

Even though the act was not completed in reality, it was still conceived as a complete act.

This is very common after verbs like:

• хотеть
• мочь
• собираться
• пытаться

Examples:

• Я хотел позвонить. = I wanted to call.
• Она пыталась открыть дверь. = She tried to open the door.

So perfective here is completely normal.

Кашлянул means gave a cough or coughed once.

It is a single, brief action. That is why it fits so well here:

• he wanted to say something,
• but instead he only coughed once,
• and then fell silent.

By contrast:

• кашлял = was coughing / coughed repeatedly / coughed for some time

So the contrast is:

• кашлянул = one short cough
• кашлял = a process or repeated action

In this sentence, the one-time action is what matters, so кашлянул is the best choice.

Замолчал means fell silent, went quiet, or stopped speaking.

It comes from молчать = to be silent / to keep quiet.

The prefix за- often means the beginning of a state or action. So:

• молчать = to be silent
• замолчать = to become silent / to fall silent

That is why замолчал works so well in narrative:

• first he coughed,
• then he became silent

It marks a clear change of state.

They work together to create a stronger contrast.

• но = but
• только here means only, just

So но только кашлянул means something like:

• but only coughed
• but merely coughed instead
• but all he did was cough

This makes the sentence more expressive. It emphasizes that he failed to say what he wanted and managed only that one small action.

Without только, the sentence would still be correct:

• Брат хотел что-то сказать, но кашлянул и замолчал.

But только adds the nuance of limitation: that was all he could do.

In Russian, только usually goes near the word or action it limits.

Here it limits the verb:

• только кашлянул = only coughed

It tells us that instead of speaking, the only thing he did was cough.

If you moved только, the emphasis could shift. Russian word order is flexible, but placement often affects focus. In this sentence, putting только right before кашлянул is the most natural way to say that coughing was the only result.

In Russian past tense, the form usually shows gender and number.

Here the subject is брат, which is masculine singular, so the past tense verbs are masculine singular too:

• хотел
• кашлянул
• замолчал

Compare:

• masculine: он хотел
• feminine: она хотела
• neuter: оно хотело
• plural: они хотели

So the -л ending here is part of the masculine singular past form.

Because the subject is already understood to be брат.

Russian often omits repeated subject pronouns when the subject stays the same. Once брат has been introduced, the next verbs naturally continue with that same subject:

• Брат хотел...
• но только кашлянул и замолчал

English often repeats pronouns more than Russian does. Russian prefers to leave them out when there is no confusion.

Because но connects two clauses, and in Russian a comma is normally used before it.

Here the sentence has:

• Брат хотел что-то сказать
• но только кашлянул и замолчал

So the comma marks the contrast between what he intended to do and what actually happened.

This is very standard Russian punctuation.

Yes, that is the natural reading.

The sequence

• кашлянул и замолчал

presents two completed actions in order:

1. he coughed
2. he fell silent

Russian often uses this kind of chain of perfective past verbs to move a story forward step by step.

So the sentence feels very narrative and compact:

• he wanted to say something,
• but only coughed,
• and then went silent.