Learn Hardcore Russian: Вечернее молчание на кухне бывает таким приятным, когда все просто пьют чай. - The evening silence in the kitchen is so pleasant when everyone is just drinking tea.

Молчание is a neuter noun (it ends in -e and its dictionary form is молчание, neuter).
Russian adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify.

Neuter, nominative singular adjective ending: -ее / -ое
Masculine, nominative singular: -ый / -ий

Since молчание is neuter, the correct form is вечернее молчание, not вечерний молчание.

What case are вечернее молчание and кухне in, and why?

Вечернее молчание is in the nominative case. It is the subject of the sentence: the evening silence (does something / is something).
Кухне is in the prepositional case after the preposition на: на кухне = in the kitchen / on the kitchen (space).

So structurally:

Subject: вечернее молчание (nominative)
Location: на кухне (prepositional after на)

Why do we say на кухне and not в кухне? What is the difference between на and в here?

With many place nouns, Russian simply has a fixed choice of preposition that you must memorize:

на кухне is the normal, idiomatic way to say in the kitchen.
в кухне is either wrong or would sound very strange (it might be understood as physically inside the structure of the kitchen, like in the walls).

So even though English uses in, Russian uses на with some common locations:

на кухне – in the kitchen
на работе – at work
на улице – outside / in the street

It is largely idiomatic: you learn кухня → на кухне.

What does бывает add to the sentence? Could we just say … молчание … такое приятное instead of бывает таким приятным?

Бывает is the 3rd person singular of бывать (imperfective). In this sentence it has a nuance like:

can be, is sometimes, is at times.

So бывает таким приятным ≈ can be so pleasant / is sometimes so pleasant.

If you said вечернее молчание на кухне такое приятное, that would sound more like a direct statement of fact: the evening silence in the kitchen is so pleasant (in general), without the sometimes / occasionally nuance.

So бывает makes it sound more general and habitual, not a constant, unchanging fact.

Why is таким приятным in the instrumental case? Why not just такое приятное?

Russian often uses the instrumental case for a predicate adjective or noun after быть / бывать / становиться when you want to describe what something is / becomes / turns out to be.

Pattern:
[Subject in nominative] + быть / бывать + [adjective in instrumental]

молчание бывает таким приятным – the silence can be so pleasant.

Here:

таким and приятным are both neuter, singular, instrumental (agreeing with молчание), giving таким приятным.
If you used такое приятное, it would be grammatically possible but would sound more like a simple, factual judgment and less like this typical бывает + instrumental structure. The instrumental is more idiomatic here.

Why is the verb бывает singular when we talk about everyone drinking tea (все просто пьют чай)?

The subject of бывает is вечернее молчание, which is singular. The clause когда все просто пьют чай is a separate time/condition clause and does not determine the number of бывает.

Structure:

Main clause: Вечернее молчание на кухне бывает таким приятным
Subordinate clause: когда все просто пьют чай

So the verb бывает agrees with молчание (singular), not with все.

Why is пьют (present tense) used? Are we talking about a specific evening or something habitual?

The present tense пьют here is general / habitual present:

когда все просто пьют чай – when everyone is just drinking tea / whenever everyone just drinks tea.

This doesn’t have to be about this particular evening. It describes a recurring situation: whenever that situation happens, the evening silence can be pleasant.

Russian often uses the simple present for general truths and repeated or typical situations, just like English uses when people drink tea, it’s nice….

Why is пьют (imperfective) used and not a perfective form like выпьют?

Imperfective пьют focuses on the process / ongoing action:

пьют чай – are drinking tea / drink tea (as an activity).

Perfective выпьют чай would focus on the completion of the action:

когда все выпьют чай – when everyone (has) finished drinking tea.

Here we are talking about the pleasant atmosphere during the quiet time while everyone is simply sitting and drinking tea, so the ongoing, imperfective пьют is the natural choice.

What is the difference between все in когда все просто пьют чай and всё?

They are different words:

все (without the accent mark in writing, but pronounced with e) = everyone / all (people).
- когда все просто пьют чай – when everyone is just drinking tea.
всё = everything / all (things), neuter singular form of всё.
- всё хорошо – everything is fine.

So here it must be все (people), not всё (things).

Could we change the word order in когда все просто пьют чай? For example, когда просто все пьют чай – is that possible, and does it change the meaning?

Yes, Russian word order is relatively flexible, and both are possible:

когда все просто пьют чай – neutral: when everyone is just drinking tea.
когда просто все пьют чай – puts a bit more emphasis on просто: when they’re simply all drinking tea (and not doing anything else).

The difference is subtle:

все просто пьют чай – everyone is just drinking tea (as opposed to talking, working, etc.).
просто все пьют чай – it’s simply that everyone is drinking tea (a little more emphasis on simply).

Both are grammatically correct; the original word order is the more neutral-sounding one.

Why is there a comma before когда?

In Russian, a subordinate clause introduced by когда is normally separated from the main clause by a comma.

Structure:

Main clause: Вечернее молчание на кухне бывает таким приятным
Subordinate clause of time/condition: когда все просто пьют чай

Rule: main clause + comma + когда + subordinate clause.

So the comma is required by standard punctuation rules.

Could we say вечерняя тишина instead of вечернее молчание? What is the difference between молчание and тишина?

You could say вечерняя тишина на кухне бывает такой приятной; it would be grammatical and understandable.

Nuance:

тишина = silence as the *state of there being no noise, quietness.
молчание = silence as the act of not speaking, the fact that people are not talking.

In a kitchen context with people present, молчание slightly emphasizes that people are not talking, they are quietly drinking tea. Тишина is more about the general quiet atmosphere, regardless of whether people are choosing not to speak.

Both work, but молчание fits nicely with the idea of people silently drinking tea together.