Он редко бывает дома вечером.

at home

Breakdown of Он редко бывает дома вечером.

• вечером: in the evening
• он: he
• редко: rarely

Questions & Answers about Он редко бывает дома вечером.

Why do we use бывает here instead of just saying Он редко дома вечером?

Both variants are possible, but they’re not identical.

• 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?