Breakdown of Сегодня мой брат долго умывался.
брат
brother
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
долго
for a long time
сегодня
today
умываться
to wash one's face
Questions & Answers about Сегодня мой брат долго умывался.
Why does умывался end in -ся and not -сь?
In the past tense, reflexive verbs end in -ся when the standard verb ending is a consonant, like the masculine -л. If the verb ends in a vowel, like the feminine -ла or plural -ли, it takes -сь instead. Since брат (brother) is masculine, the verb uses the masculine -л plus -ся.
The English translation says "washed his face", but there is no word for "face" here. Why?
The base verb умываться has the reflexive ending -ся (which acts like "oneself"), so it literally means "to wash oneself". In everyday Russian, this specific verb implies washing your own face and hands as a morning or evening routine. You don't need to add the words for "face" or "his" because the verb already has that built-in meaning!
How should I pronounce the -ся at the end of умывался?
Even though it is spelled with the soft vowel я, the -ся ending on reflexive verbs is traditionally pronounced with a hard "s" sound. It sounds more like -са (or "suh"). So you would pronounce it умывалса.
"For a long time" is four words in English, but only one word (долго) in Russian. Is that right?
Yes! Долго is an adverb that simply means "for a long time". Russian often uses single adverbs instead of preposition phrases to describe how long an action takes. You just place it before the verb to show the action was lengthy.
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