Questions & Answers about Вечером я хочу посидеть где‑нибудь в тихом кафе.
Why is вечером used by itself without a preposition? Why not в вечер or в вечере?
Вечером is the instrumental case of вечер used adverbially. Russian often uses the instrumental to express time when something happens:
- утром – in the morning
- днём – in / during the day
- вечером – in the evening
- ночью – at night
So Вечером я хочу… literally is (In) the evening I want… without needing a preposition.
Forms like в вечер or в вечере are not used in this temporal sense. For “in the evening” in everyday speech, you say вечером, or more specifically сегодня вечером (“this evening”), but never в вечер.
Does вечером here mean “this evening” or “in the evenings (generally)”?
By default, вечером in a sentence like this usually means this coming evening / tonight, especially if the context is about plans.
- Вечером я хочу посидеть… – “This evening I want to sit / hang out…”
If you wanted “in the evenings (as a habit)”, Russian typically uses по вечерам:
- По вечерам я люблю посидеть где‑нибудь в тихом кафе.
“In the evenings I like to sit somewhere in a quiet café.”
So:
- вечером – usually one specific evening (often “this evening”)
- по вечерам – habit, repeated action in the evenings