Breakdown of Как ты сегодня себя чувствуешь?
ты
you (singular)
как
how
сегодня
today
себя
oneself (себе: Dat/Prep)
Questions & Answers about Как ты сегодня себя чувствуешь?
Why do we need the word себя in this sentence?
In Russian, when you talk about your state of health or mood, you use the verb чувствовать (to feel) with the reflexive pronoun себя (oneself). Literally, you are asking 'How do you feel yourself today?'. Here, себя is in the Accusative case, acting as the direct object of the verb.
What would happen if I left себя out and just said Как ты сегодня чувствуешь?
It would sound incomplete. Without себя, the verb чувствовать means to physically feel or sense an external object or emotion (like 'I feel the cold' or 'I feel joy'). To express 'how I am feeling' in terms of health or mood, you must include себя.
The dictionary form is чувствовать. Why does it change to чувствуешь?
Verbs ending in -овать undergo a stem change when conjugated. The -ова- part changes to -у- in the present tense. Then we add the standard ты ending -ешь, giving us чувствуешь.
Could I change the word order and put себя after the verb?
Yes, absolutely! Russian word order is flexible. Как ты сегодня чувствуешь себя? is also perfectly correct. Placing the short pronoun себя right before the verb is just a very common and natural-sounding habit for native speakers.