Когда я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю домашнее задание.

Breakdown of Когда я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю домашнее задание.

я
I
когда
when
задание
the assignment
домой
home
делать
to do
домашний
home
приходить
to come
сразу
right away
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Questions & Answers about Когда я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю домашнее задание.

Why is it когда я прихожу домой and not когда я приду домой?

Both are possible, but they have different nuances:

  • Когда я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю…

    • прихожу = imperfective, present tense
    • Describes a regular, repeated action: Whenever I come home (on any day), I immediately do my homework.
    • This is the habitual “when I do X, I do Y” pattern.
  • Когда я приду домой, я сразу сделаю…

    • приду = perfective, future meaning
    • Describes one specific future occasion: When I get home (today/this time), I will immediately do my homework.

In your sentence, we’re talking about a habit, so imperfective прихожу is correct and natural.

Why is it прихожу домой and not иду домой?

Both verbs involve movement, but:

  • идти домой = “to go home” (the process of going, on the way)
  • приходить домой = “to come home / to arrive home”

The English sentence is “When I come home…”, which focuses on the arrival, not the journey.
That’s why Russian uses прихожу (домой) — it emphasizes the moment of reaching home, which matches “when I come home” better than иду домой (when I am going home).

What is the difference between домой and дома?
  • домой – “(to) home”, shows direction (where you are going)

    • Я иду домой. – I’m going home.
    • Когда я прихожу домой… – When I come home…
  • дома – “at home”, shows location (where you are)

    • Я дома. – I’m at home.
    • Когда я дома, я делаю домашнее задание. – When I am at home, I do my homework.

So in your sentence, the action happens when you arrive (to home), so домой is used.

Why is there a comma before я сразу делаю…?

Russian uses a comma to separate clauses:

  • Когда я прихожу домой, – subordinate clause (introduced by когда = when)
  • я сразу делаю домашнее задание. – main clause

In Russian, you must put a comma between a subordinate clause (with когда) and the main clause, no matter which comes first:

  • Когда я прихожу домой, я делаю уроки.
  • Я делаю уроки, когда прихожу домой.

In both word orders there is a comma.

Why is делаю (imperfective) used instead of сделаю (perfective)?
  • делать (делаю) – imperfective: process, repeated/habitual actions
  • сделать (сделаю) – perfective: completed, single result

The sentence describes a routine:

  • …я сразу делаю домашнее задание.
    = Whenever this situation happens, I do my homework (it’s my habit).

If you were talking about one future event, you’d say:

  • Когда я приду домой, я сразу сделаю домашнее задание.
    = When I get home, I’ll (then) do my homework (once).
Why is домашнее задание singular in Russian when “homework” in English is uncountable?

In Russian, домашнее задание is grammatically neuter singular:

  • домашнее – neuter singular adjective
  • задание – neuter singular noun

But semantically it often means “homework” in general, just like English uncountable homework.

So:

  • делать домашнее задание – to do (your) homework

If you want to talk about several tasks, you can also say:

  • домашние задания – homework assignments / tasks (plural)

But for “I do my homework”, the natural phrase is singular домашнее задание.

Could I drop the second я and just say Когда я прихожу домой, сразу делаю домашнее задание?

Yes, that is possible and natural in Russian:

  • Когда я прихожу домой, сразу делаю домашнее задание.

In Russian, the verb ending often makes the subject clear (делаю = “I do”), so pronouns like я can be omitted when context is obvious.

Both versions are correct:

  • Когда я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю… – slightly more explicit/emphatic.
  • Когда я прихожу домой, сразу делаю… – a bit more compact and typical in speech.
Can I change the word order, for example: Я сразу делаю домашнее задание, когда прихожу домой?

Yes, that’s also correct:

  • Когда я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю домашнее задание.
  • Я сразу делаю домашнее задание, когда прихожу домой.

The meaning is the same; only the focus changes slightly:

  • Starting with Когда я прихожу домой… puts more emphasis on the condition/time.
  • Starting with Я сразу делаю… puts more emphasis on the action as your usual habit.

Both are normal Russian.

Why is когда used instead of если?
  • когда = when (talks about time)
  • если = if (talks about condition)

Your sentence is about time – what you do at the moment you come home:

  • Когда я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю… – When I come home, I immediately do…

If you used если:

  • Если я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю…
    This would sound odd here, like “If I (happen to) come home, I immediately do…”, implying that sometimes you don’t come home at all. That’s not the intended meaning.
What is the function of сразу here? Is it like “right away”, “immediately”?

Exactly. сразу means:

  • сразу – at once, immediately, right away

So:

  • я сразу делаю домашнее задание
    = I do my homework immediately, as soon as I come home.

You could also say:

  • Я сразу же делаю домашнее задание. – adding же for a bit more emphasis: right away, straight away.
How do you pronounce домой and how is it different from дом?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):

  • дом – [dom] (like dom in “domino” without the i-no)
    Means “house” / “home” (basic form).
  • домой – [dɐˈmoj]
    • Stress on the second syllable: доМОЙ
    • The ой sounds like English “oy” in boy.

Functionally:

  • дом – the noun “house, home”
    • Я люблю свой дом. – I love my house/home.
  • домой – adverb of direction “(to) home”
    • Я иду домой. – I’m going home.
Would it be correct to say Как только я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю домашнее задание?

Yes, that’s correct, and it’s a bit closer to explicit English “as soon as I come home”:

  • Когда я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю… – When I come home, I immediately do…
  • Как только я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю… – As soon as I come home, I immediately do…

Both are natural; как только just highlights the very first moment you come home.

Why is everything in the present tense in Russian, even though English can also say “When I come home, I do my homework” as a present habitual? Is the usage the same?

Yes, this is a parallel habitual construction in both languages.

  • English:
    When I come home, I (always) do my homework.
    Present Simple for regular actions.

  • Russian:
    Когда я прихожу домой, я сразу делаю домашнее задание.
    Present tense of imperfective verbs (прихожу, делаю) for regular actions.

So the tenses and aspects line up quite well here: both describe a routine habit, not a single event.