После моего вопроса он отвёл глаза и ничего не сказал.

Because после always requires the genitive case in Russian.

• мой вопрос = nominative, “my question”
• моего вопроса = genitive, “of my question” / “after my question”

So:

• после урока = after the lesson
• после работы = after work
• после моего вопроса = after my question

This is one of those prepositions you simply learn together with its required case.

Both the adjective/pronoun мой and the noun вопрос must go into the genitive singular.

• мой → моего
• вопрос → вопроса

This is normal adjective-noun agreement in Russian: when the noun changes case, the word describing it changes too.

Here the noun is masculine singular, so the genitive form is:

• мой брат → моего брата
• мой вопрос → моего вопроса

Yes, it is a very common expression.

Literally, отвёл глаза means turned his eyes away. In natural English, this is usually:

• looked away
• averted his eyes
• looked away without answering

It often suggests discomfort, embarrassment, guilt, or unwillingness to respond.

The verb is отвести / отводить. In this sentence, отвёл is the past tense masculine singular form of the perfective verb отвести.

Russian often uses the plural for body parts that naturally come in pairs, especially in expressions like this.

So отвести глаза is the normal phrase, not usually отвести глаз in this meaning.

Compare:

• закрыть глаза = to close one’s eyes
• поднять глаза = to raise one’s eyes / look up
• отвести глаза = to avert one’s eyes

Even though English may sometimes use singular in similar expressions, Russian prefers the plural here.

Because отвёл is perfective, and the sentence describes a completed action: he looked away at that moment.

• отводил (imperfective) would suggest a process, repetition, or background action
• отвёл (perfective) presents it as a single completed act

In this context, the sequence is:

1. after my question,
2. he looked away,
3. and said nothing

That kind of one-time event is very naturally expressed with the perfective.

Russian uses negative concord, which means multiple negative words appear together in the same clause.

So Russian says:

• ничего не сказал = literally “nothing not said,” but meaning he said nothing

This is completely normal and required in standard Russian.

Other examples:

• никто не пришёл = nobody came
• ничего не понимаю = I understand nothing / I don’t understand anything
• никогда не видел = never saw

In English, one negative is usually enough, but in Russian the verb also stays negative.

Because ничего is the form used here for nothing / anything in the genitive/accusative-like use after negation.

In real Russian, ничего не сказал is the normal phrase for said nothing.

Ничто exists, but it is much less common in everyday speech and often sounds more formal, abstract, or literary:

• Ничто не вечно. = Nothing is eternal.

But for ordinary sentences like this one, Russian strongly prefers:

• ничего не сказал
• ничего не видел
• ничего не понял

Russian often leaves possessive words out when the meaning is obvious from context, especially with body parts.

So он отвёл глаза naturally means he averted his eyes.

Russian does not need to say свои глаза here, because that would usually sound unnecessary.

Compare:

• Он закрыл глаза. = He closed his eyes.
• Она подняла руку. = She raised her hand.

The possession is understood from the subject.

Yes, Russian can sometimes omit subject pronouns when the subject is clear from context, especially in conversation.

So both are possible:

• Он отвёл глаза и ничего не сказал.
• Отвёл глаза и ничего не сказал.

However, including он makes the subject explicit and can help with clarity, contrast, or storytelling flow. In a written sentence like this, keeping он is very natural.

Russian word order is flexible, but different orders change the emphasis.

The given sentence:

• После моего вопроса он отвёл глаза и ничего не сказал.

is very neutral and natural.

Other possible orders:

• Он после моего вопроса отвёл глаза и ничего не сказал.
• Ничего не сказал и отвёл глаза после моего вопроса.

These are grammatically possible, but they sound different in emphasis or rhythm. The original order is the most straightforward narrative order: time first, then actions.

Сказал is the past tense, masculine singular.

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

• сказал = he said
• сказала = she said
• сказало = it said
• сказали = they said

The same applies to отвёл:

• отвёл = he led away / averted
• отвела = she averted
• отвели = they averted

Since the subject is он, masculine forms are used.

Yes, the ё shows both pronunciation and the exact form.

• отвёл is pronounced roughly at-VYOL
• It comes from отвести

In many printed texts, Russian often writes е instead of ё, so you may see отвел. But the correct pronunciation is still отвёл.

For learners, ё is very helpful because it tells you where the stress is and avoids confusion.

Yes, in natural English that is often exactly how you would translate it.

Russian uses the noun phrase после моего вопроса, literally after my question, but in context it often corresponds to:

• after I asked
• after my question
• when I asked him

The Russian structure is nominal, but the English translation may be more verbal depending on what sounds natural.