Learn Hardcore Russian: Удалённая работа даёт свободу, но требует больше самодисциплины. - Remote work gives freedom but requires more self‑discipline.

The adjective удалённая comes from the verb удалить / удалять – to remove, to move away.
Literally, удалённый means removed, distant, far away.

In modern Russian, in the context of jobs and IT, удалённая работа has become the standard expression for remote work / working from a distance (not in the office).

So:

удалённая работа = remote work
удалённый доступ = remote access
удалённый сотрудник = remote employee

It’s a semi-technical / business term that feels completely natural in modern Russian.

Why is it удалённая работа and not something like удалённый работа?

In Russian, adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

работа is:
- gender: feminine
- number: singular
- case: nominative (it’s the subject)

The base adjective is удалённый (masculine, singular, nominative).
To match работа (feminine), we change it to:

удалённый → удалённая (feminine, singular, nominative)

So удалённая работа is just normal adjective–noun agreement:
feminine adjective + feminine noun.

Why is there no word for “it” before требует? In English we say “…but it requires…”.

Russian often does not repeat the subject if it’s clear from context and the verb form.

The first clause has the subject:

Удалённая работа даёт свободу…

In the second clause, Russian simply continues talking about the same subject:

…но требует больше самодисциплины.

Literally: “…but requires more self-discipline.”

We understand that удалённая работа is still the subject of требует.
Russian normally does not add a pronoun like она or это here. Saying:

…но она требует больше самодисциплины.

is possible, but more emphatic, as if you’re stressing she (remote work) in contrast to something else. The neutral, natural version omits the pronoun.

Why is даёт used instead of даст? What’s the difference?

даёт is the present tense imperfective form of давать.
даст is the future tense perfective form of дать.

Imperfective (даёт) is used for:

general truths
repeated actions
ongoing or typical situations

Perfective (даст) is used for:

single, completed actions
a specific future event

Here, we are making a general statement about remote work:

Удалённая работа даёт свободу…
= Remote work gives freedom (as a general property).

Using даст would sound like you’re talking about one specific future situation:

Удалённая работа даст тебе свободу.
= Remote work will give you freedom (in this particular case).

Why is свободу in that form and not свобода?

The noun свобода (freedom) in the dictionary is in the nominative case.

In this sentence, свободу is the direct object of даёт:

даёт (что?) свободу – gives what? freedom

Direct objects after most verbs use the accusative case.
For a feminine noun ending in -а, the nominative → accusative change is:

свобод-а (nom.) → свобод-у (acc.)

So свободу is simply accusative singular feminine:
даёт свободу = gives freedom.

Why is it больше самодисциплины and not больше самодисциплину?

The word больше (more) typically requires the genitive case for the thing you have “more of”.

больше (чего?) самодисциплины – more (of what?) self-discipline

Самодисциплина is a feminine noun.
Nominative: самодисциплина
Genitive singular: самодисциплины

So:

больше самодисциплины = more self‑discipline / more of self‑discipline

Using самодисциплину (accusative) after больше would be ungrammatical in standard Russian. With больше/меньше, think: GENITIVE by default.

Is самодисциплина written as one word or two, and what exactly does it mean?

It’s written as one word: самодисциплина.

Structure:

само- = self-
дисциплина = discipline

Together: self-discipline – your own ability to control yourself, follow rules or plans, stay focused and organized without outside pressure.

So больше самодисциплины = more self-discipline.

Why is there a comma before но?

In Russian, но (but) usually connects two clauses (two parts with their own verb), and they are separated by a comma.

Here we have:

Удалённая работа даёт свободу – first clause
(удалённая работа) требует больше самодисциплины – second clause

They’re joined by но, so we put a comma:

Удалённая работа даёт свободу, но требует больше самодисциплины.

This is the standard punctuation rule:
Independent clause, но independent clause.

Can I change the word order, like Работа удалённая даёт свободу?

You can change the word order, but it will sound unusual or poetic in this context.

Normal, neutral order:

Удалённая работа даёт свободу…

If you say:

Работа удалённая даёт свободу…

it sounds:

somewhat stylistic/poetic, or
like you’re contrasting this type of work with other work:
Работа удалённая даёт свободу, а офисная — стабильность.

In everyday speech and writing, stick with Удалённая работа at the start; it’s the standard phrase.

How do you pronounce удалённая and самодисциплины? Where is the stress?

Stresses:

удалённая – у‑да‑лЁн‑на‑я
Stress is on ё (and ё is always stressed in Russian):
- [u-da-LYON-na-ya]
работа – ра‑бО‑та
- [ra-BO-ta]
даёт – да‑йОт (spelled даёт with ё)
- [da-YOT]
свободу – сво‑бО‑ду
- [sva-BO-du]
требует – ТРЕ‑бу‑ет
- [TRE-bu-yet]
больше – БОль‑ше
- [BOL-she]
самодисциплины – са‑мо‑дис‑ци‑ПЛИ‑ны
- [sa-ma-dis-tsi-PLI-ny]

If you’re reading printed Russian, remember that ё is often written as е, but the pronunciation (and stress) stays the same.

Is there a difference between удалённая работа and дистанционная работа?

Both can translate as remote work, but there is a nuance:

удалённая работа
- The most common modern term for remote work in everyday and business language.
- Very widely used in job ads, HR, and casual speech.
дистанционная работа
- Also correct, slightly more formal / technical / bureaucratic.
- Used in laws, regulations, official documents.

In ordinary conversation or in a sentence like this, удалённая работа is more natural.
In legal texts and official policies, you’ll often see дистанционная (удалённая) работа.

Could you say работа на дому instead of удалённая работа?

Работа на дому literally means work at home (home-based work).

Differences:

удалённая работа
- Means you’re working remotely from the office.
- You might be at home, in a café, in another city, etc.
- Focus is: you’re not physically in the company’s office.
работа на дому
- Emphasizes that you work specifically at home.
- Often used for home-based jobs, freelancers, or certain side-gigs.

So:

If the idea is remote work in general → удалённая работа (better choice here).
If you specifically mean work done at home → работа на дому.

In your sentence, Удалённая работа даёт свободу… is the most natural variant.

Why is the present tense used (даёт, требует) instead of the future tense?

Russian uses the present tense with imperfective verbs to express:

general truths
typical situations
stable characteristics

The sentence describes a general property of remote work, not a specific future event:

Удалённая работа даёт свободу, но требует больше самодисциплины.
= Remote work gives freedom but requires more self‑discipline (in general).

Using future tense would change the meaning:

Удалённая работа даст свободу, но будет требовать больше самодисциплины.
Sounds like a prediction about what will happen in the future, not an all-time truth.