Breakdown of Я сам нагулялся вдоль реки и насмотрелся на лодки.
и
and
я
I
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
река
river
Questions & Answers about Я сам нагулялся вдоль реки и насмотрелся на лодки.
How do the verbs нагулялся and насмотрелся get the meaning of doing something 'to one's heart's content'?
Both use the prefix на- and the postfix -ся added to the base imperfective verbs гулять (to walk) and смотреть (to look). This specific combination forms a perfective verb that means to do an action to the point of satiation or until you are completely satisfied.
Since насмотрелся has the -ся ending, why is it followed by an object (на лодки)? Aren't -ся verbs intransitive?
That is a great observation! While adding -ся does make a verb intransitive (meaning it cannot take a direct object in the Accusative case without a preposition), it can still take prepositional objects. Because the base verb uses the preposition на + Accusative to mean 'to look at' (смотреть на лодки), the satiation form насмотреться keeps that exact same prepositional structure.
Why is the noun реки in the Genitive case in the phrase вдоль реки?
The preposition вдоль (along) always requires the Genitive case. Since река is a feminine noun ending in -а, it changes to реки in the Genitive.
Does сам here mean 'alone' or 'myself'?