Question 1

Why does улыбалась end in -сь instead of the usual -ся?

Accepted Answer

Because the letter before it is a vowel! In the past tense, the feminine ending is -ла. After a vowel, the reflexive ending shrinks from -ся to -сь. If the subject were a boy, it would be улыбался because the masculine past tense ends in the consonant -л.

Question 2

Since улыбалась is a reflexive verb, does it mean she was smiling at herself?

Accepted Answer

No, she is just smiling! While the -ся or -сь ending often means doing an action to yourself, some Russian verbs are just built with this ending and do not carry a self-directed meaning. Улыбаться (to smile) is one of these words—it is always reflexive.

Question 3

I thought the object of a verb needs to change its ending. Why is it just письмо here?

Accepted Answer

It actually is in the accusative case (the case for direct objects), but the change is invisible here. Письмо is a neuter noun. In Russian, neuter nouns and non-living masculine nouns look exactly the same in the accusative case as they do in their dictionary form.

Question 4

Notice how both читала and улыбалась have an -ла in them. Is that required?

Accepted Answer

Yes! In the past tense, Russian verbs must match the gender of the subject. Since девочка (girl) is feminine, both verbs take the feminine past tense ending -ла. For улыбалась, the reflexive -сь is just attached to the very end of that.

Вчера девочка читала письмо и улыбалась.

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