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Questions & Answers about Мы здороваемся утром.
Why does здороваемся end in -ся and not -сь?
In Russian, reflexive verbs add -ся after a consonant and -сь after a vowel. Because the "we" form of this verb is здороваем (which ends in the consonant м), we add -ся to make здороваемся.
I learned that -ся means doing something to yourself. Are we saying hello to ourselves?
Not exactly! While -ся often means doing an action to yourself, it is also used for reciprocal actions—doing something to each other. The verb здороваться specifically means "to greet each other."
Здороваемся is a long word! Is there an easy way to remember it?
Yes! You might recognize the root from the formal greeting Здравствуйте (Hello) and the word здоровый (healthy). In Russian, when you greet someone, you are literally wishing them health.
Why does the word for morning (утро) end with -ом in this sentence?
To say when an action happens, Russian often changes the endings of time words. Changing утро to утром turns it into an adverb that means "in the morning." You will see this same pattern in words like днём (in the afternoon) and вечером (in the evening).