Learn Hardcore Russian: Многим людям нравится работа дома, потому что она даёт чувство свободы. - Many people like working from home because it gives a feeling of freedom.

In English: Many people like working from home.
Subject = many people
In Russian: literally: To many people work at home is pleasing.
The person who likes something is in the dative case, not the nominative.

So:

многие люди = many people (nominative, as a subject)
многим людям = to many people (dative, “for many people”)

With нравиться:

The thing that is liked is the grammatical subject (nominative).
The person who likes it is in the dative.

That’s why we say Многим людям нравится работа дома…, not Многие люди нравятся работа дома….

What case are многим and людям, and how are these forms built?

Both многим and людям are in the dative plural.

многим comes from многие (many, plural).
- Nominative plural: многие
- Dative plural: многим
людям comes from люди (people).
- Nominative plural: люди
- Dative plural: людям

In this sentence, we use dative because with нравиться the “experiencer” (the one who likes something) must be in the dative:
(Кому?) Многим людям нравится… – (To whom?) To many people … is pleasing.

Why is it нравится (singular) and not нравятся (plural)?

The verb нравиться agrees with the thing that is liked, not with the person:

Subject: работа дома (work at home) – singular
Experiencer (in dative): многим людям – plural

Verb agreement follows the subject:

Многим людям нравится работа дома.
Literally: To many people work-at-home is pleasing.
нравится – 3rd person singular (because работа is singular)

Compare:

Многим людям нравится работа. – Many people like the job.
Многим людям нравятся фильмы. – Many people like the films.
Here фильмы is plural, so нравятся (plural).

How does the construction with нравиться work compared to English to like?

Structure in English:
[Person] likes [thing].

Structure in Russian with нравиться:
[Thing] нравится [person-in-dative].

So:

English: Many people like working from home.
Russian literal structure: Work at home is pleasing to many people.
Работа дома нравится многим людям.

General pattern:

Фильм нравится детям. – The children like the film.
Эта идея не нравится начальнику. – The boss doesn’t like this idea.

You can think of нравиться as “to be pleasing” rather than “to like”.

When should I use нравиться and when любить? They both seem to mean to like.

They overlap, but they’re not interchangeable in all contexts.

нравиться (to be pleasing, to appeal to):

Often used for first impressions, opinions, or milder liking:
- Мне нравится этот фильм. – I like this film. (It appeals to me.)
- Ему не нравится идея. – He doesn’t like the idea.

любить (to love / to like strongly, or as a general preference):

For stronger feelings or stable preferences / habits:
- Я люблю свою семью. – I love my family.
- Я люблю работать дома. – I like working from home (as a general preference).

Both can be correct in some contexts, but they sound a bit different:

Мне нравится твоя рубашка. – I like your shirt (it looks nice).
Я люблю эту рубашку. – I love this shirt (it’s my favorite, I’m attached to it).

In the given sentence, нравится is natural because we’re talking about how work-from-home appeals to many people.

Why is it работа дома and not работать дома? What’s the difference?

работа дома – literally work at home, home-based work (a noun phrase).
работать дома – to work at home (a verb phrase, infinitive).

In this sentence, the structure is X нравится (X is pleasing). Russian usually uses a noun in that position:

Мне нравится работа. – I like the job.
Ему нравится музыка. – He likes music.

So работа дома behaves like a noun phrase: “home-based work” / “work at home.”

If you want to use a verb, you can say:

Многим людям нравится работать дома. – Many people like working at home.

Both versions are grammatical:

…нравится работа дома – emphasis on the type of job (home-based work).
…нравится работать дома – emphasis on the activity (the act of working at home).

What is the difference between работа дома, работа из дома, and работа по дому?

These are easy to confuse:

работа дома
- General: work at home / work from home, context-dependent.
- Can mean a remote job, or just doing your job while physically at home.
работа из дома
- More clearly work from home (remote work, telecommuting).
- Emphasizes that your work goes “out from” your home to the employer.
работа по дому
- Housework, chores (cleaning, cooking, etc.).
- Very different meaning: not your job-for-money, but domestic tasks.

So:

Мне нравится работа из дома. – I like working from home (remote job).
Мне нравится работа по дому. – I like doing housework.

In the original sentence, работа дома is understood as working from home because of context.

What does она refer to, and why is it feminine?

Она refers back to работа.

работа is a feminine noun (ending in -а), so the pronoun that replaces it is она (she/it).
Even though in English we might say it gives a feeling of freedom, in Russian we must match grammatical gender:
- Работа дома… потому что она даёт чувство свободы.
  Work at home… because it gives a feeling of freedom.

We do not use оно here because оно is for neuter nouns, and работа is feminine.

Why is the verb даёт and not some other form like даст?

Даёт is the present-tense 3rd person singular of давать (to give, imperfective):

давать (imperfective) → он/она даёт – he/she/it gives
дать (perfective) → он/она даст – he/she/it will give (one-time, future).

In the sentence:

она даёт чувство свободы – it gives a feeling of freedom (in general, regularly).

We want a general, habitual meaning, so we use the imperfective present: даёт.

If you said она даст чувство свободы, it would mean at some point (in the future) it will give a feeling of freedom, which doesn’t fit the generic statement here.

Why is it written даёт with ё? I sometimes see дает instead.

The correct pronunciation has ё: [да-йот].

In modern Russian writing:

It is allowed to replace ё with е in most printed texts, so you may see дает.
But the pronunciation remains даёт.

In learning materials and dictionaries, ё is often written explicitly to show correct stress and vowel quality. So даёт is clearer for learners, though дает is common in newspapers and books.

Why is it чувство свободы and not чувство свобода? What case is свободы?

Свободы is genitive singular of свобода (freedom).

Russian often uses the genitive case to show what something is a feeling of, a lack of, a part of, etc.

Patterns:

чувство радости – a feeling of joy
чувство страха – a feeling of fear
отсутствие времени – a lack of time

So:

чувство свободы = a feeling of freedom
literally, feeling of freedom → genitive: свободы.

Чувство свобода would be incorrect grammatically.

Could I change the word order to Работа дома нравится многим людям, потому что она даёт чувство свободы?

Yes, that is perfectly grammatical and natural.

Both:

Многим людям нравится работа дома…
Работа дома нравится многим людям…

are correct. The difference is nuance of emphasis:

Starting with Многим людям emphasizes who likes it (many people).
Starting with Работа дома emphasizes what we are talking about first (working at home).

Russian word order is relatively flexible; as long as cases are correct, the basic meaning stays the same, and you mainly change what is highlighted.

Do Russians really put a comma before потому что? Could I omit it?

Yes, in standard written Russian a comma is normally required before потому что when it means because and introduces a reason clause.

In your sentence:

…, потому что она даёт чувство свободы. – comma is standard.

There are some special, more advanced cases where потому что can act almost like a single word (“because”) and the comma may be omitted, but for learners and in neutral style you should always put the comma:

Я не пришёл, потому что был занят. – I didn’t come because I was busy.

So here, the comma is correct and expected.