Learn Hardcore Russian: В конце дня я отдыхаю дома.

Because конце is in the prepositional case, which is required after в when you talk about being in/at a place or moment (not movement towards it).

конец (nominative) → в конце (prepositional) = at the end
дня is genitive singular of день and is used after конец:
- конец чего? – конец дня – the end of the day

So the structure is:

в
- конце (prepositional) + дня (genitive)
  = at the end of the day

Why does дня end with -я here?

Дня is the genitive singular form of день.

The word конец often takes the genitive to show “end of something”:

конец дня – end of the day
конец недели – end of the week
конец месяца – end of the month

In Russian, you don’t use an extra word like “of”; instead, you change the noun to genitive case.

Could I say в конец дня? Would that mean something different?

В конец дня is not natural in this context.

в конец with the accusative is usually about movement to the end of something (e.g. to the end of the street).
Here we are talking about a time period (at the end of the day), not movement.

So for time expressions like this, you normally use:

в конце дня – at the end of the day (correct)

Is в конце дня like the English idiom “at the end of the day” meaning “ultimately / when all is said and done”?

No, в конце дня here is literal: it means physically/temporally at the end of the day, in the evening or when the day finishes.

The English idiomatic “at the end of the day” = “ultimately” doesn’t match this Russian phrase in that figurative sense. For the idiomatic “ultimately”, Russians more often use things like:

в итоге – in the end, ultimately
в конечном счёте – ultimately, in the final analysis

Why is отдыхаю used here and not отдохну?

Отдыхаю is the imperfective verb form, present tense, 1st person singular:

я отдыхаю – I (am) rest(ing) / I relax / I take a rest (general, ongoing, repeated)

Отдохну is the perfective future:

я отдохну – I will rest (once, as a completed action)

In В конце дня я отдыхаю дома, the speaker is describing a regular habit or a typical daily routine, so Russian uses the imperfective present: отдыхаю.

How is я отдыхаю conjugated, and what’s the infinitive?

The infinitive is отдыхать – to rest, to relax (imperfective).

Conjugation (present tense):

я отдыхаю – I rest / I relax
ты отдыхаешь – you rest (sing., informal)
он/она/оно отдыхает – he/she/it rests
мы отдыхаем – we rest
вы отдыхаете – you rest (pl. or formal)
они отдыхают – they rest

Why is it дома and not в доме?

Дома (with stress on the first syllable: до́ма) is an adverb meaning “at home”. It’s the standard way to say where you are when you mean your home as a general place:

я дома – I am at home
я отдыхаю дома – I rest at home

В доме literally means “in the house/building” and focuses on the interior of a building, not necessarily “my home” in the personal sense. For example:

Он в доме – He is in the house (not outside)

In this sentence, дома = “at (my) home” is exactly what you want.

Could I say я отдыхаю в доме instead? Would that sound wrong?

You could say я отдыхаю в доме, and it’s grammatically correct, but it sounds different:

я отдыхаю дома – I rest at home (neutral, usual phrasing about your home).
я отдыхаю в доме – I rest inside the house (as opposed to somewhere else, like outside, in the yard, etc.).

So в доме emphasizes being inside the building; дома emphasizes being at home as your place of residence.

Why do we say я отдыхаю дома and not я дома отдыхаю? Is that wrong?

Both are possible, but the neutral, most common word order is:

я отдыхаю дома – subject → verb → place

Я дома отдыхаю is also correct, but it sounds a bit more emphatic, like you’re stressing where you rest:

Я дома отдыхаю, а не в офисе. – I rest at home, not in the office.

Russian word order is relatively flexible, and changes usually affect emphasis, not grammatical correctness.

Can I drop я and just say В конце дня отдыхаю дома?

Yes, you can drop я, and many native speakers do in context when it’s clear who the subject is:

В конце дня отдыхаю дома.

This sounds a bit more informal or diary-like, as if you’re casually listing what you do.

However, if you want a neutral, complete sentence, especially as a learner, keep the pronoun:

В конце дня я отдыхаю дома.

Does я отдыхаю mean “I am resting” right now or “I (usually) rest”?

It can mean both, depending on context:

Right now / currently:
- (On the phone) Ты где? – Я отдыхаю дома.
  – Where are you? – I’m resting at home.
Habit / routine:
- В конце дня я отдыхаю дома.
  – At the end of the day I (usually) rest at home.

Russian present imperfective often covers both present continuous and simple present meanings in English.

How would I say “Every day, at the end of the day, I rest at home”?

You can add каждый день:

Каждый день в конце дня я отдыхаю дома.

Word order alternatives (all correct, just slightly different in rhythm/emphasis):

В конце дня я каждый день отдыхаю дома.
Каждый день я в конце дня отдыхаю дома.

The first version (Каждый день в конце дня я отдыхаю дома) is the most straightforward for learners.