Breakdown of Она долго загорала и теперь красная.
и
and
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
красный
red
долго
for a long time
теперь
now (as opposed to before)
загорать
to sunbathe, to get a tan
Questions & Answers about Она долго загорала и теперь красная.
Why use the imperfective verb загорала if she is already finished sunbathing?
Because of the word долго (for a long time). Whenever you emphasize the duration of an action, Russian requires the imperfective aspect, even if the action is completely finished and has a visible result. If you removed долго and just wanted to focus on the result (She got a tan), you would use the perfective verb загорела.
Could I use сейчас instead of теперь for the word "now"?
You could, but теперь is the more natural choice here. Теперь specifically highlights a change in circumstances or a new state that is the result of a past action (she wasn't red before, but now she is). Сейчас is a more neutral word simply meaning "at this current moment."
Since being red from the sun is a temporary state, shouldn't we use a short-form adjective here?
That is a logical guess, because short-form adjectives are frequently used for temporary conditions in Russian. However, color adjectives like красная (red) are almost never used in the short form in everyday modern speech, even for temporary situations like a sunburn. You simply use the standard long form to match the feminine subject (Она).
Is красная the standard way to say "sunburned" in Russian?
It is used exactly like it is in English to describe the physical result of too much sun. If you want to use the actual verb for "to get a sunburn" instead of just describing the skin color, you would use сгореть (literally "to burn down"). For example, you could say Она сгорела (She got sunburned).
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