Question 1

Why do we need the word себя in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

In English, we just say "he feels". But in Russian, the verb чувствовать needs an object. To say how someone feels physically or emotionally, you use the reflexive pronoun себя (oneself). Literally, he feels himself fine. If you drop себя, it sounds like he is physically touching or sensing an external object.

Question 2

Why is нормально an adverb here instead of the adjective нормальный?

Accepted Answer

Because it describes the verb! In English, we often use adjectives with feelings (like "I feel normal" or "I feel good"), but in Russian, when you describe how the action of "feeling oneself" is done, you must use an adverb. An adjective like нормальный (normal) would be used to describe a noun, such as a "normal day" (нормальный день).

Question 3

Why does the verb form чувствует lose the 'ова' from the infinitive чувствовать?

Accepted Answer

This is a classic -овать / -евать verb. In the present and simple future tenses, the -ова- suffix drops out and gets replaced by -у- (or -ю-). That is why чувствовать loses the -ова- and becomes чувствует for the "he" form. Even at the B1 level, this spelling change is easy to forget, but you will see this pattern in many common verbs!

Question 4

Since we are learning "так / такой ... что", how would I expand this sentence to say "He feels so fine that..."?

Accepted Answer

Because нормально is an adverb, you must use так (so) rather than такой (such). You would say: Он чувствует себя так нормально, что... (He feels so fine that...). You always pair так with adverbs and short adjectives, while такой is reserved for nouns and full adjectives.

Он чувствует себя нормально.

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