Learn Hardcore Russian: Усталый кассир отдыхает после окончания рабочего дня. - The tired cashier rests after the end of the workday.

Both adjectives mean “tired,” but усталый is more of a descriptive, lasting quality (“tired-looking,” “weary”), while уставший (from the verb устать) emphasizes the result of an action (“having gotten tired”). In practice they often overlap, but усталый кассир paints a picture of a weary cashier, whereas уставший кассир stresses that he has just become tired.

Why is кассир in the nominative case?

It’s the subject of the sentence: “The tired cashier rests….” In Russian, the subject of a finite verb (отдыхает) takes the nominative case. That’s why both кассир and its adjective усталый are nominative singular masculine.

Why is окончания in the genitive case after после?

The preposition после always requires the genitive. So any noun or noun phrase following после must be in the genitive. Here the base noun is окончание (“ending, completion”), so it becomes окончания in genitive singular.

How do рабочего and дня agree in “рабочего дня”?

Рабочего is an adjective modifying дня (“day”). Since дня is masculine singular genitive (because it follows после), the adjective рабочий must also be masculine singular genitive, giving рабочего дня (“of the work day”).

Why is the verb отдыхает in the present tense, not a past tense like “rested”?

Russian often uses the present tense to state a habitual or current action. Here it says that the cashier (now that the workday is over) is resting at this moment or as a regular routine. If you wanted to say “he rested,” you’d use the past tense: отдохнул (perfective).

What about verb aspect—why the imperfective отдыхает rather than the perfective отдохнёт or отдохнул?

Imperfective aspect (отдыхать – отдыхает) describes an ongoing or habitual action: “is resting” or “rests regularly.” A perfective form (отдохнуть – отдохнул, отдохнёт) would focus on the completion of rest (“has rested” or “will rest”). Since the sentence highlights the ongoing rest after the shift, the imperfective is appropriate.

Could the word order be changed? For example, “кассир усталый отдыхает…”?

In theory Russian allows flexibility, but the neutral, most natural order is adjective + noun + verb (усталый кассир отдыхает). Putting кассир before усталый (кассир усталый) would sound poetic, archaic, or emphasize “cashier” in contrast to someone else, which changes the nuance.

Why use после окончания рабочего дня instead of simply после работы?

После работы is perfectly fine and more colloquial. После окончания рабочего дня is a bit more formal and explicit (“after the end of the work day”). It emphasizes the precise moment when the shift ends.

Can you say после конца рабочего дня instead of после окончания?

Yes, после конца рабочего дня is grammatically correct and has the same meaning. Окончание (“ending”) and конец (“end”) can often be used interchangeably, though окончание might sound slightly more formal or abstract.