Этот король управлял страной.

Because этот has to agree with король in gender, number, and case.

• король is masculine singular
• the sentence uses the nominative case for the subject
• so the correct form is этот

Compare:

• этот король = this king
• эта страна = this country
• это окно = this window

Even though король ends in -ь, it is still a masculine noun.

In Russian, a noun ending in -ь can be either masculine or feminine, so you often have to learn the gender with the word.

Король is masculine. You can see that from agreement:

• этот король
• новый король
• in the past tense: король управлял (masculine past form)

So the ending -ь does not automatically mean feminine.

Управлял is the past tense, masculine singular form of the verb управлять.

Breakdown:

• управлять = to govern, to manage, to rule
• управлял = ruled / was governing

Why this form?

In Russian past tense, verbs often use -л plus gender/number endings:

• управлял = masculine
• управляла = feminine
• управляло = neuter
• управляли = plural

Since король is masculine singular, the verb is управлял.

Because the verb управлять requires the instrumental case.

So:

• dictionary form: страна
• instrumental singular: страной

This is something you have to learn with the verb:

• управлять страной = to govern a country
• управлять машиной = to drive / operate a car
• управлять компанией = to run a company

So even though English says rule the country, Russian uses a structure more like govern by/with the country grammatically, which is why the instrumental is used.

Yes, normally управлять governs the instrumental case.

Examples:

• управлять страной = to govern the country
• управлять государством = to govern the state
• управлять людьми = to manage people
• управлять процессом = to manage the process

This is a very common thing in Russian: certain verbs regularly require a specific case, and you simply memorize that pattern with the verb.

Управлять is imperfective.

That makes sense because ruling/governing is usually seen as an ongoing process or state, not a single completed action.

So управлял often means:

• he ruled
• he was ruling
• he used to rule

Russian aspect does not match English tense exactly, but here the imperfective fits the general idea of ongoing rule.

Also, управлять is much more common as an imperfective verb. In many contexts, Russian does not need a perfective partner here the way English learners might expect.

Yes, potentially.

Russian управлял does not by itself force just one English translation. Depending on context, it could mean:

• This king ruled the country
• This king was ruling the country
• This king used to rule the country

The wider context tells you which English version is best.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English because the cases show each word’s role.

The neutral order here is:

• Этот король управлял страной.

But you could also say:

• Страной управлял этот король.
• Этот король страной управлял.

These versions may sound more marked or emphasize different parts, but they are grammatical.

In the original sentence, the order is straightforward and natural: subject + verb + object/complement.

Страна is a feminine noun ending in -а. In the instrumental singular, nouns like this usually change to -ой or -ою.

So:

• страна → страной

Other examples:

• книга → книгой
• сестра → сестрой
• машина → машиной

So страной is just the regular instrumental singular form of страна.

The stress is:

• Э́тот коро́ль управля́л страно́й.

Word by word:

• э́тот
• коро́ль
• управля́л
• страно́й

Stress is important in Russian, so it is worth learning words together with their stressed syllables.