Learn Hardcore Russian: Мы любим долго разговаривать со своими друзьями вечером на кухне. - We like to talk for a long time with our friends in the evening in the kitchen.

Мы любим долго разговаривать = We like to talk for a long time (it states a preference / habit, what we enjoy doing).
Structure: любить
- infinitive → to like doing something.
Мы долго разговариваем = We talk for a long time (describes what happens, not specifically that we enjoy it).

So любим разговаривать focuses on liking the activity, while долго разговариваем simply describes an action that takes a long time.

Why is the verb разговаривать (imperfective) used, not поговорить or another perfective form?

After verbs of liking, wanting, being able, etc., Russian normally uses the imperfective infinitive, because it talks about an activity in general, not one completed event.

любим разговаривать – we like the activity of talking; there is no idea of a finished, one‑time conversation.
поговорить is perfective and would usually appear in contexts like:
- Мы хотим поговорить. – We want to have a (one) talk.
- Нам нужно поговорить. – We need to talk (once, about something specific).

With любим, the natural choice is imperfective: любим разговаривать.

What is the difference between разговаривать and говорить here?

Both relate to speaking, but they have different usual uses:

говорить – “to speak, to say, to talk” (more general):
- говорить по-русски – to speak Russian
- Он говорит, что… – He says that…
разговаривать – “to talk, to converse” (usually implies a two‑way, longer conversation, more informal and interactive).

In долго разговаривать с друзьями, разговаривать is natural because it suggests a friendly, back‑and‑forth conversation rather than just “producing speech”.

Why do we use со in со своими друзьями, instead of just с?

Со is just a variant of с used for phonetic ease before certain consonant clusters, especially before:

с + с (e.g. со мной, со всеми)
с + з / ж / ш / щ (e.g. со звуком, со Шведом)
Sometimes before с + д, т or similar clusters.

In со своими, с + св… would sound awkward, so Russian uses со to make pronunciation smoother: со своими instead of с своими.

Why is it со своими друзьями, not с нашими друзьями or just с друзьями?

с друзьями – with (some) friends, possibly ours, possibly someone else’s; context would decide.
с нашими друзьями – with our friends, explicitly saying they are “ours”.
со своими друзьями – with our own friends (belonging to the subject мы).

Своими is the reflexive possessive pronoun, matching the subject:

мы → своими друзьями
я → своими друзьями
он → своими друзьями etc.

It usually replaces мой/наш/твой/их when the owner is the subject of the sentence. Using своими here is the most natural and neutral way to say with our (own) friends without repeating мы/наш.

Why is друзьями in the instrumental case?

After the preposition с/со meaning “with (someone)”, Russian uses the instrumental case.

Singular:
- друг → с другом – with a (male) friend
Plural:
- друзья → с друзьями – with (our) friends

In the sentence, со своими друзьями = with our own friends, so друзьями is the instrumental plural of друзья.

Why is it вечером, and what is the difference from по вечерам or на вечер?

вечером here is the instrumental singular of вечер, used as an adverb meaning “in the evening” (general time of day).

вечером – in the evening (a typical time when something happens)
по вечерам – in the evenings (repeated, habitual: on evenings in general, many evenings)
на вечер – for the evening (for a particular evening as a time slot), e.g.:
- У нас планы на вечер. – We have plans for the evening.

In … вечером на кухне, вечером simply states when this usually happens: in the evening.

Why is it на кухне, not в кухне?

For rooms like кухня, работа, почта, завод, Russian often uses на (on/at) to mean “at that place” in a functional sense:

на кухне – in/at the kitchen (as a room where you cook, talk, etc.)
на работе – at work
на почте – at the post office

в кухне would sound strange in modern Russian; you say на кухне to mean in the kitchen as a location where things happen.

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Мы вечером на кухне любим долго разговаривать со своими друзьями?

Yes. Russian word order is relatively flexible, and your version is grammatical. Different orders can slightly change emphasis:

Мы любим долго разговаривать со своими друзьями вечером на кухне.
Neutral; focus on liking to talk for a long time with our friends in the evening in the kitchen.
Мы вечером на кухне любим долго разговаривать со своими друзьями.
Brings вечером на кухне forward, emphasizing the setting (In the evenings in the kitchen, we like…).
Мы любим вечером на кухне долго разговаривать со своими друзьями.
Puts вечером на кухне near любим, highlighting when and where this liked activity happens.

All are possible; the given sentence is just a natural, neutral version.

Why is долго placed before разговаривать? Could we say любим разговаривать долго?

Both positions are possible:

любим долго разговаривать – very natural; the adverb directly modifies the infinitive that follows.
любим разговаривать долго – also correct; it may put a slight extra emphasis on the duration, like “we like to talk, and we talk for a long time.”

In practice, долго разговаривать is more common and sounds smoother, especially in a phrase like this.

How is the whole sentence stressed and pronounced naturally?

Main word stresses:

Мы лю́бим до́лго разгова́ривать со свои́ми друзья́ми ве́чером на ку́хне.

Notes:

лю́бим – stress on лю́-
до́лго – stress on до́л-
разговари́вать – stress on -ва́-: разгова́ривать
свои́ми – stress on -и́-: свои́ми
друзья́ми – stress on -я́-: друзья́ми
ве́чером – stress on ве́-
ку́хне – stress on ку́-

The sentence rhythmically breaks up roughly as:

Мы лю́бим / до́лго разгова́ривать / со свои́ми друзья́ми / ве́чером на ку́хне.