Getting Your Fill: "на- ... -ся"
In Russian, you can express doing an action to your heart's content—or until you are completely satisfied—by wrapping a verb in the prefix на- and the reflexive postfix -ся (or -сь after a vowel).
When these satiation verbs involve consuming something, the object takes the Genitive case (meaning you are having "your fill of" it). Let's look at eating (наесться) and drinking (напиться).
| We ate our fill of tasty pizza and drank plenty of cold kvass. | Мы наелись вкусной пиццы и напились холодного кваса. |
| The festival guests had their fill of meat and drank plenty of wine. | Гости на фестивале наелись мяса и напились вина. |
Taking in the Sights
You can apply this pattern to almost any activity to show you've done it as much as you want.
Note: While consuming verbs take the Genitive, *насмотреться pairs with the preposition на + Accusative case to express what you are getting a good look at.*
| I myself walked along the river to my heart's content and got a good look at the boats. | Я сам нагулялся вдоль реки и насмотрелся на лодки. |
| The students walked around the park to their hearts' content and got a good look at the monuments. | Студенты нагулялись по парку и насмотрелись на памятники. |
Partying to Your Heart's Content
Because these verbs focus on the completion of your desire, they are perfective—used for finished actions in the past, or actions you will fully complete in the future.
| We danced around the stage to our hearts' content and finally had a good long talk. | Мы натанцевались вокруг сцены и наконец наговорились. |
| First the friends will dance to their hearts' content, and then they will have a good long chat. | Сначала подруги натанцуются, а потом наговорятся. |
Playing and Riding
You can also use this structure to express playing (наиграться) or riding around (накататься) to your heart's content.
| The children played on the grass and rode bicycles to their hearts' content. | Дети наигрались на траве и накатались на велосипедах. |
| My brother played tennis to his heart's content and now wants to sleep. | Мой брат наигрался в теннис и теперь хочет спать. |
Too Much of a Good (or Bad) Thing
Sometimes, you can get more than your fill. Having your fill of working (наработаться) might leave you exhausted, while you can also hear more than enough (наслушаться) of something.
Like eating and drinking, наслушаться takes the Genitive case for the thing you've heard plenty of.
| Since I had my fill of work during the week, I want to rest at the fair. | Так как я наработался за неделю, я хочу отдыхать на ярмарке. |
| The director also had his fill of work and heard more than enough empty noise. | Директор тоже наработался и наслушался пустого шума. |