Learn Hardcore German: Abends bin ich immer hungrig. - In the evenings I am always hungry.

Abend is the noun “evening.” Adding -s to a noun can form a time adverb in German, so abends means “in the evenings” (habitually). It’s capitalized here only because it’s the first word of the sentence; if you used it mid-sentence, you’d write abends (lowercase).

What’s the difference between abends and am Abend?

abends is a pure adverb meaning “in the evenings” (every evening, as a routine).
am Abend is a prepositional phrase (an + dem Abend) meaning “in/at the evening.” You can use am Abend for both single events and routines, but when talking about a regular habit, Germans often prefer the shorter adverb abends.

Why does the verb bin come before the subject ich?

German main clauses follow the “verb-second” (V2) rule. Whatever you put in the first position (here Abends) pushes the finite verb into second place, so the subject (ich) must come after bin, yielding:
1 Abends (first)
2 bin (verb-second)
3 ich (subject)

Why is immer placed between ich and hungrig?

immer is an adverb of frequency. In German it normally occupies the “middle field,” coming after the finite verb + subject but before predicates or objects. Because we already inverted bin and ich, immer naturally follows ich:
Abends bin ich immer hungrig.

Why is hungrig at the end of the sentence?

hungrig is a predicative adjective linked to the verb sein. Predicative adjectives always follow the verb and carry no endings here. Since there are no further complements after it, hungrig appears last.

Why don’t Germans usually say Ich bin hungrig, but rather Ich habe Hunger?

Both are correct, but Ich habe Hunger (“I have hunger”) is the idiomatic everyday expression for “I’m hungry.” Ich bin hungrig is grammatically fine but sounds a bit more formal or descriptive. In casual speech you’ll almost always hear Ich habe Hunger.