Breakdown of Представление уже началось!
уже
already
начаться
to start (perfective)
представление
the performance
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Questions & Answers about Представление уже началось!
Why do we use the reflexive verb началось here instead of the regular verb начало?
We use the reflexive начаться because the subject (представление) is starting itself. In Russian, events like a performance, a film, or a lesson start themselves (they are intransitive). If you used the non-reflexive начать, you would need an active subject starting a direct object, like a director starting the show.
Why does the verb end in -ось instead of the usual reflexive -ся?
The verb must match the neuter subject представление. The base neuter past tense is начало. In Russian, when a past tense verb ends in a vowel (like the -о here), the reflexive particle attached to it is -сь, making it началось. If the subject were masculine, it would end in a consonant plus -ся (like фильм начался).
Why is this in the perfective aspect (началось) rather than the imperfective (начиналось)?
The word уже (already) strongly signals that the action of starting is fully completed. The performance has crossed the threshold from not playing to playing. When focusing on a completed action whose result is still true right now, Russian uses the perfective past tense.
Does представление just mean a show or performance? I thought it meant an introduction.