Learn Hardcore Russian: Он редко бывает дома вечером.

Он редко бывает дома вечером.
Literally: He rarely happens to be at home in the evening.
- Sounds very natural and neutral.
- Emphasizes his being at home as an event / state that occurs.
Он редко дома вечером.
Literally: He is rarely at home in the evening.
- Also correct, but feels a bit more static or descriptive.
- In many contexts it would be interpreted the same way, but native speakers more often use бывает with adverbs of frequency.

Using бывает makes the sentence feel more like: As a rule / habit, he is not at home in the evening; on most evenings, he’s somewhere else.

What exactly is бывает? How is it related to быть?

Быть = to be.
- Present tense form есть (he is) usually gets dropped in modern Russian:
  - Он дома. = He is at home. (no verb in Russian)
Бывать is a related verb meaning:
- to be (from time to time),
- to be somewhere habitually / occasionally / repeatedly,
- to occur / happen (about events).
Он бывает дома. = He is (from time to time) at home / He is sometimes at home.

So in Он редко бывает дома вечером,
бывает = is (there, as a recurring or habitual fact),
and редко shows that this habitual occurrence isn’t frequent.

What is the difference between быть and бывать?

Быть and бывать are related but used differently:

Быть:
- Basic verb to be.
- Used for:
  - Simple existence/state: Он дома. – He is at home.
  - Past/future: Он был дома. / Он будет дома.
- Neutral about frequency.
Бывать:
- Means: to be from time to time / to happen / to occur.
- Almost always implies repetition or typical behavior:
  - Он часто бывает дома. – He is often at home (as a rule).
  - Тут бывает холодно. – It’s (at times / can be) cold here.

In this sentence, бывать is perfect because we talk about how often he is at home in the evenings (habit, routine), not about one specific evening.

What form is дома, and why not в доме?

Дома here is not a regular case form in the usual sense; it’s an adverbial form meaning at home.

Compare:

дом – house, home (noun, basic form)
дома (as adverb) – at home
в доме – in the house (physically inside the building, more concrete)

So:

Он дома. – He is at home. (general place where he lives / stays)
Он в доме. – He is in the house. (as opposed to outside the house)

In Он редко бывает дома вечером, дома = at home (not just physically inside the building, but at his place / not out).

Which case is дома in?

From a learner’s point of view, treat дома here as an adverb (like дома, вчера, здесь). You don’t need to assign it a case in everyday grammar.

Historically, it’s related to older locative/possessive constructions, but in modern language:

дом – noun
дома – adverb meaning at home

So for usage, think of дома as: a special word meaning at home, not as “дом in some case” you must decline.

Can I change the word order? For example, say Он редко вечером бывает дома or Он вечером редко бывает дома?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible. Here are some natural options and their feel (all are grammatical):

Он редко бывает дома вечером.
Neutral, standard: He is rarely at home in the evening.
Он вечером редко бывает дома.
Slightly shifts focus:
- First we establish when: in the evening.
- Then we say: at that time, he rarely is at home.
  Very natural in speech.
Он редко вечером бывает дома.
Possible, but the rhythm is a little less usual; not wrong, but used less often.

The most typical patterns are Он редко бывает дома вечером and Он вечером редко бывает дома.

Where should редко usually go in a sentence like this?

The most common place for редко (and similar adverbs: часто, иногда) is before the main verb:

Он редко бывает дома вечером.
Он часто бывает дома вечером.

Other positions are possible, but less neutral:

Он бывает редко дома вечером. – grammatically OK, but sounds marked;
the focus is more on редко as a comment on бывает, not on his general habit.

Rule of thumb:
Put редко right before the main verb unless you have a specific reason to emphasize something else.

Could I say Он редко дома вечером бывает? Is that okay?

It is grammatically possible, but:

Он редко бывает дома вечером. is the most natural, neutral word order.
Он редко дома вечером бывает. sounds more colloquial and a bit expressive, as if the speaker is adding emotional emphasis or speaking casually.

For learners, stick to:

Он редко бывает дома вечером.
or
Он вечером редко бывает дома.

These sound natural in any context.

Why is there no verb есть (is) anywhere? In English we say “He is rarely at home…”

Modern Russian:

Almost always drops the present form есть of быть.
So Он дома. literally is just He at home.
The is is understood from context.

In this sentence, the role of “is (there)” is played by бывает, so we don’t need есть at all:

Он редко бывает дома вечером. – He rarely is (there) at home in the evening.

Using есть here would be wrong or extremely strange:
✗ Он редко есть дома вечером. – Not correct.

Does Он редко бывает дома вечером refer to one evening, or to his general habit?

It refers to his general habit / typical behavior.

бывает (from бывать) inherently suggests repeated / usual / from time to time.
Adding редко gives: rarely, not often.

So the sentence means roughly:

As a rule, on most evenings he is not at home; on some evenings he is at home, but not often.

It is not about a single evening; it’s a general statement about how things usually are.

What tense is бывает? How do I translate it literally?

Бывает is present tense, 3rd person singular of бывать.

Literal breakdown:

Он – he
редко – rarely / seldom
бывает – (he) is (from time to time) / happens to be
дома – at home
вечером – in the evening / in the evenings (as a time period)

Literal-ish translation:

He rarely happens to be at home in the evening.

Natural English translation:

He is rarely at home in the evening.
He’s seldom home in the evenings.

What does вечером exactly mean? Is it “in the evening” or “in the evenings (usually)”?

Вечером can mean both, depending on context:

This/that evening (specific time) – when context is specific:
- Он придёт вечером. – He will come in the evening (today / that day).
Evenings in general, as a usual time – when combined with frequency adverbs like часто, редко, обычно:
- Он редко бывает дома вечером.
  → Here, вечером is understood as in the evenings (as a rule).

So in this sentence, it expresses his typical situation in the evenings, not just one evening.

What’s the difference between редко and не часто in this kind of sentence?

Both mean roughly not often, but there is a nuance:

редко – rarely, seldom
- A bit stronger, more direct.
- Neutral word, very common.
не часто – not often
- Slightly softer, more “understated” or indirect.
- Feels like denying “often” rather than asserting “rare”.

In this sentence, you can say either:

Он редко бывает дома вечером. – He is rarely at home in the evening.
Он не часто бывает дома вечером. – He is not often at home in the evening.

The first sounds a bit more categorical; the second is milder.