Я читаю стих дома.

I am reading a poem at home.

Breakdown of Я читаю стих дома.

• я: I
• читать: to read
• дома: at home
• стих: the verse

Questions & Answers about Я читаю стих дома.

In English I would say “I am reading a poem at home.” Why is there no word for “a” or “the” in Я читаю стих дома?

Russian simply has no articles. There is no separate word for “a/an” or “the”.

• Я читаю стих дома can mean:
  • I am reading a poem at home
  • I am reading the poem at home
  • I read a/the poem at home (in general / as a habit)

Context usually tells the listener whether you mean something definite (the poem you both know about) or indefinite (some poem, not specified). The Russian sentence itself does not mark this difference grammatically.

Why is the verb читаю used here, and what exactly does its tense mean?

Читаю is the 1st person singular present tense of читать (to read), an imperfective verb.

• Stem: чита-
• Ending for я (I): -ю → читаю = I read / I am reading

Russian has only one present tense form for ongoing and habitual actions. So:

• Я читаю стих дома can mean:
  • I am reading a poem at home (right now)
  • I read poems at home (as a routine)

Russian does not have a separate continuous tense like English “am reading”; that meaning is covered by the same present form plus context.

What case is стих in, and why does it look the same as the dictionary form?

Here стих is in the accusative case as the direct object of the verb читаю:

• Я – subject, nominative case
• читаю – verb
• стих – direct object, accusative case

For inanimate masculine nouns like стих, the accusative singular form is identical to the nominative:

• Nominative: стих (what? – poem/verse)
• Accusative: стих (I read what? – poem/verse)

So you don’t see any ending change, but grammatically it is accusative.

What exactly does стих mean here? How is it different from стихи and стихотворение?

All three are related to poetry, but they differ in usage:

• стих

  • Literally: a line of verse.
  • Colloquially, often used to mean “a poem” (especially a short one), like:
    • Выучить стих – to learn a poem by heart
  • In this sentence, Я читаю стих дома, it is most naturally understood as I am reading a (short) poem at home.

• стихи (plural of стих)

  • Literally: verses, lines of poetry.
  • Commonly: poetry or poems in general.
  • Я читаю стихи дома – I read poetry / poems at home.

• стихотворение

  • More formal/neutral word for “a poem” as a complete work.
  • Я читаю стихотворение дома – stylistically a bit more bookish, very clear “I am reading a poem at home.”

So стих here is a natural, slightly more casual way to say “a poem.”

Why is it дома and not в доме? What is the difference?

Дома in this sentence is an adverb meaning “at home”.

• Я читаю стих дома – I am reading a poem at home (at my home, where I live).

В доме is a prepositional phrase: в + доме (prepositional case of дом).

• Я читаю стих в доме – literally I am reading a poem in the house (inside some house/building, not necessarily your home, and more concrete/physical).

So:

• дома = at home (usual place where you live)
• в доме = in the house (inside a particular building)

Also note the stress:

• до́ма (stress on the first syllable) – at home
• дома́ (stress on the second syllable) – houses (plural nominative), a different word.

Can I omit я and just say Читаю стих дома?

Yes. Russian often drops subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb ending.

• Я читаю стих дома – neutral, full sentence.
• Читаю стих дома – also correct and natural, especially:
  • in answers to questions:
    
    • Что ты делаешь? – Читаю стих дома.
  • in informal speech, where the subject is obvious.

The ending -ю in читаю already tells us it’s I who is reading, so я is not always needed.

How flexible is the word order? Can I say Дома я читаю стих or Я дома читаю стих?

Russian word order is relatively flexible, and all of these can be correct, but the emphasis changes:

• Я читаю стих дома. – neutral: I read a poem at home.
• Дома я читаю стих. – emphasizes дома:
  
  • At home I read a poem (as opposed to somewhere else).
• Я дома читаю стих. – often felt as emphasizing the location a bit more:
  
  • When I’m at home, I read a poem / That’s what I do at home.

However, some orders sound unnatural:

• Я читаю дома стих. – possible but stylistically odd in many contexts; usually Russians prefer not to separate verb and direct object with the place adverb.

The original Я читаю стих дома is the clearest, most neutral version.

How do you pronounce the whole sentence, and where are the stresses?

Stresses:

• Я чита́ю стих до́ма.

Rough pronunciation (IPA):

• Я – [ja]
• чита́ю – [t͡ɕɪˈtajʊ] (stress on та́)
• стих – [stʲix] (final х like German Bach)
• до́ма – [ˈdomə] (stress on до́)

So the rhythm is: ya chi-TA-yu stikh DO-ma.

How would I say “I will read the poem at home” instead? Do I need a different verb form?

To talk about the future, you have two common options:

1. Compound future with the same imperfective verb читать:

   • Я буду читать стих дома.
   • I will be reading a poem at home / I will read poems at home (in general).

2. Simple future with the perfective verb прочитать (to read through / finish reading):

   • Я прочита́ю стих дома.
   • I will read the poem at home (and finish it).

• читать (imperfective) – process, repeated or ongoing action.
• прочитать (perfective) – completed, one-time action with a clear result.

In your English sentence “I will read the poem at home”, if you mean I’ll sit down and read it completely, Я прочитаю стих дома is the closest.

How would I say “I read poems at home” (as a habit, plural) instead of just one poem?

You would make стих plural:

• Я читаю стихи дома.

Here:

• стихи = plural of стих, meaning poems or poetry in general.
• The present tense читаю plus plural стихи strongly suggests a habitual action:
  • I read poems / poetry at home (regularly, as a habit).