Learn Hardcore Russian: Мы печатаем отчёт вечером в офисе. - We print the report in the evening at the office.

Мы печатаем отчёт.
- can be understood as:
  - We print the report (a regular action / habit), or
  - We are printing the report (right now / at some point this evening).

English distinguishes simple present vs present continuous; Russian doesn’t. The imperfective present (печатаем) covers both ideas; the context tells you which one is meant.

Why is the verb печатаем used here and not пишем or распечатываем?

These verbs describe different types of “producing text”:

печатать → печатаем
- Means to type (on a keyboard) or to print (on a printer), depending on context.
- In modern usage, it often implies using a computer/printer or typewriter.
- In the sentence Мы печатаем отчёт, it can mean:
  - We are typing the report (on a computer), or
  - We are printing the report (on a printer).
писать → пишем
- Primarily means to write (by hand).
- Мы пишем отчёт would usually mean We are writing the report (composing it, often by hand or in general, not specifically about typing/printing).
распечатывать → распечатываем
- Means to print out (from a computer).
- Мы распечатываем отчёт focuses clearly on sending the file to the printer and getting a paper copy.

So печатаем is a good general choice for typing/printing; распечатываем is more specific to “print out from a device,” and пишем is “write (compose), often by hand.”

What grammatical person and number is печатаем, and how is it formed?

Печатаем is 1st person plural, present tense, imperfective:

Infinitive: печатать
Stem: печата-
Ending for мы (we) with most -ать verbs: -ем

Conjugation (present tense, imperfective):

я печатаю – I print / I am printing
ты печатаешь – you (sing. informal) print / are printing
он/она/оно печатает – he/she/it prints / is printing
мы печатаем – we print / are printing
вы печатаете – you (pl./formal) print / are printing
они печатают – they print / are printing

So печатаем = “we (are) print(ing).”

What case is отчёт in, and how can I tell?

Отчёт is in the accusative case, used for the direct object of the verb.

Nominative (dictionary form): отчёт – report
Accusative (masculine, inanimate): отчёт

For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative form is the same as the nominative.

Clue: ask “print what?”

Мы печатаем что? → отчёт (direct object → accusative).

So even though the form doesn’t change, you know it’s accusative because it’s the thing being printed.

Why is there no article (“a” or “the”) before отчёт?

Russian has no articles at all—no a, an, the.

The single word отчёт can correspond to:

a report
the report
sometimes just report (in a general sense)

Which one is meant depends on the context, not on a separate word like “the” or “a”:

Мы печатаем отчёт вечером в офисе.
- could be:
  - We are printing the report in the office this evening.
  - We are printing a report in the office this evening.

If the conversation already established which report, English will usually use “the report”, but Russian doesn’t change the form.

What does вечером literally mean, and why is there no preposition like “в вечером”?

Вечером comes from вечер (evening) and is in the instrumental case used adverbially to mean “in the evening” / “at nightfall.”

Literally:

вечер → evening
вечером → (in) the evening / during the evening

In Russian, certain time expressions use just the case form without a preposition:

утром – in the morning
днём – in the daytime
вечером – in the evening
ночью – at night

So you don’t say в вечером; you just say вечером:

Мы печатаем отчёт вечером.
= We print / are printing the report in the evening.

Can вечером move to another place in the sentence, and does the meaning change?

Yes, вечером is fairly free in word order. Common options:

Мы печатаем отчёт вечером в офисе.
Мы вечером печатаем отчёт в офисе.
Вечером мы печатаем отчёт в офисе.

All basically mean “In the evening we print/are printing the report in the office”.

Differences:

Putting вечером at the start (Вечером мы…) gives a bit more emphasis to “in the evening”.
Placing it right after мы (Мы вечером…) is very natural, mildly stressing when we do it.

Grammatically, all are correct; the change is mostly in focus/emphasis, not in basic meaning.

Why is it в офисе and not в офис or something like на офисе?

The choice here is about case and preposition usage:

Location vs. motion:
- в + prepositional (где? – where?) → location inside:
  - в офисе – in the office
- в + accusative (куда? – where to?) → motion into:
  - в офис – into the office / to the office

In your sentence, you are talking about where the printing happens, not where you are going:

Мы печатаем отчёт где? → в офисе (prepositional).

Why not на офисе?
- на
  - prepositional is used with some nouns (на работе – at work, на улице – in the street), but “office” takes в when you mean inside a physical office space:
    - в офисе – in the (physical) office
    - на работе – at work (more general, not necessarily in one office room)

So в офисе = “in the office / at the office (as a place, inside it).”

What is the case of офисе, and how is it formed?

Офисе is prepositional singular of офис.

Nominative: офис – office
Prepositional (sg.): в офисе – in the office

For many masculine nouns ending in a consonant, prepositional singular is:

add -е:
- стол → в столе (in the table)
- город → в городе (in the city)
- офис → в офисе (in the office)

So офисе = “in the office” after the preposition в expressing location.

How flexible is the word order of the whole sentence, and what happens if I rearrange it?

Russian word order is more flexible than English, though not completely free. All of these are grammatically correct:

Мы печатаем отчёт вечером в офисе.
Мы вечером печатаем отчёт в офисе.
Мы печатаем вечером отчёт в офисе.
Вечером мы печатаем отчёт в офисе.
В офисе мы вечером печатаем отчёт.

They all keep the same basic meaning: “We print/are printing the report in the office in the evening.”

Differences:

Putting a word earlier in the sentence tends to give it more emphasis or make it the topic.
- Вечером мы… → evening is the frame for the whole action.
- В офисе мы… → the office is the main setting being highlighted.
Keeping the sentence close to the original (Мы печатаем отчёт вечером в офисе.) is a neutral, natural word order.

For learners, your original order is perfectly good and common.

What is the difference between Мы печатаем отчёт вечером в офисе and Мы напечатаем отчёт вечером в офисе?

The difference is aspect and tense meaning:

Мы печатаем отчёт вечером в офисе.
- Verb: печатаем – imperfective, present tense.
- Can mean:
  - We print the report in the office in the evenings (habit), or
  - We are printing the report in the office this evening (planned / ongoing).
Мы напечатаем отчёт вечером в офисе.
- Verb: напечатаем – perfective future (from напечатать).
- Means:
  - We will print the report in the office this evening (focus on the result: by the end of the evening, the report will be printed).

So:

печатаем (imperfective) → process / repeated action, present (or scheduled near future).
напечатаем (perfective) → one-time future action with a completed result.

How do you pronounce the words печатаем, отчёт, вечером, and офисе?

Approximate pronunciation with stressed syllables in bold:

печатаем – pe-CHA-ta-yem
- Russian: [пʲɪˈt͡ɕatəjɪm]
- Stress on ча.
отчёт – at-CHYOT
- Russian: [ɐtˈt͡ɕɵt]
- Double “тч” produces a strong ch sound, and ё is always stressed and sounds like yo.
вечером – VE-che-rum
- Russian: [ˈvʲet͡ɕɪrəm]
- Stress on the first syllable ве.
офисе – O-fi-se
- Russian: [ˈofʲɪsʲɪ]
- Stress on о.

Remember that ё in отчёт is pronounced “yo,” even if in some texts it might be written as е (отчет). The stress stays the same.