Learn Hardcore Russian: Самодисциплина помогает мне работать дома.

Мне is the dative form of я (I). Literally the sentence is:
Самодисциплина помогает мне работать дома. = Self‑discipline helps *to me to work at home.*

In Russian, the person who benefits from or receives help is put in the dative case, so you say помогать кому? (to help whom? – in dative).
That’s why it’s мне (to me), not я (I) or меня (me, accusative/genitive).

Why is самодисциплина at the beginning, and can I change the word order?

The neutral word order is subject – verb – object, so Самодисциплина помогает мне... is natural: Self‑discipline helps me...

You can change the order for emphasis, but it will sound slightly different:

Мне помогает самодисциплина. – It’s self‑discipline that helps me. (emphasis on самодисциплина)
Помогает мне самодисциплина. – more stylistic/poetic, also emphasizing самодисциплина.

For a simple statement, Самодисциплина помогает мне... is the most normal choice.

Why is there no word for “I” in the sentence?

Russian doesn’t need subject pronouns as often as English because the verb ending usually shows the person.
Here the subject is самодисциплина (self‑discipline), so я (I) is not the subject at all.

The structure is:

Самодисциплина – subject (self‑discipline)
помогает – verb (helps)
мне – indirect object, dative (to me)

In English we might think: Self‑discipline helps me work at home, where me is not the subject either. Russian is the same here; there is simply no need for я.

What is the difference between помогает and помочь / поможет?

Помогает is the imperfective verb помогать, present tense, 3rd person singular: helps / is helping (regularly, generally, over time).
Помочь is the perfective infinitive: to help (once, to complete the act of helping).
Поможет is помочь in the future, 3rd person singular: will help (once / as a result).

In this sentence we’re talking about a general, ongoing situation (in general, self‑discipline helps me work at home), so the imperfective present помогает is correct.

Why is работать in the infinitive, and do I need something like “to” before it?

After помогать (to help), Russian uses the infinitive for the action you are being helped to do:

помогать делать – to help (someone) do
помогать учиться – to help (someone) study
помогать работать – to help (someone) work

So работать is the infinitive to work. Russian does not use a separate word like English to; the infinitive ending ‑ть already expresses that.

Why is it дома and not в доме? What does дома exactly mean?

Дома here is an adverb meaning at home. It answers the question где? (where?).

работать дома – to work at home / to work from home (as a place, in general)
в доме – literally in the house (building), more specific to being inside a particular house

So работать дома focuses on the idea of home as your base/place of work, not the physical interior of a specific building.

Is there a difference between дома and домой?

Yes:

дома – at home (location, answer to где? – where?)
- Я работаю дома. – I work at home.
домой – (to) home (direction, answer to куда? – to where?)
- Я иду домой. – I am going home.

In the sentence Самодисциплина помогает мне работать дома, we are describing location (where I work), so дома is correct.

Could I leave out мне and just say Самодисциплина помогает работать дома?

Yes, you can. The meanings are slightly different:

Самодисциплина помогает мне работать дома.
Self‑discipline helps *me work at home.* (personal, about you)
Самодисциплина помогает работать дома.
Self‑discipline helps (one) work at home. / Self‑discipline helps with working at home. (more general, impersonal)

Without мне, it sounds like a general statement about anyone.

If самодисциплина is feminine, why does помогает not change its form?

In Russian, finite verb forms in the present tense do not change for gender, only for person and number. So for he / she / it (3rd person singular), the form is always:

он помогает – he helps
она помогает – she helps
оно помогает – it helps

Since самодисциплина is feminine (она), the correct 3rd person singular present tense is still помогает. Gender only changes verb forms in the past tense and some participles, not in the present.

How do I know самодисциплина is feminine, and is it countable?

Clues that самодисциплина is feminine:

It ends in ‑а, which is a very common feminine ending.
Adjectives and past‑tense verbs referring to it would also be in feminine form, e.g.
- Моя самодисциплина была слабой. – My self‑discipline was weak. (моя, была – feminine)

As a noun, it is generally uncountable, like discipline or self‑discipline in English. You would normally not say “two self‑disciplines”. If needed, you’d use phrases like:

хорошая самодисциплина – good self‑discipline
высокая самодисциплина – high self‑discipline

How would I say “Self‑discipline will help me work at home” instead?

You would usually change the verb to the future while keeping the same imperfective stem:

Самодисциплина будет помогать мне работать дома.
Literally: Self‑discipline will be helping me work at home (emphasis on an ongoing or repeated process in the future).

If you want to emphasize the result (“will help” as a completed, effective help), you can use the perfective:

Самодисциплина поможет мне работать дома.
Self‑discipline will help me work at home (it will make this possible / easier).

In everyday speech, Самодисциплина поможет мне работать дома is often what people would say.