Learn Hardcore Russian: Вечером я выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу. - In the evening I turn off the TV and read a book.

In this sentence it doesn’t really mean with the evening; in modern Russian the instrumental is often used to express time when something happens, so вечером means in the evening.

This is a set pattern for parts of the day:

утро → утром = in the morning
день → днём = in/at daytime
вечер → вечером = in the evening
ночь → ночью = at night

So Вечером я… literally is In the evening I…

Another related form you’ll often see is по вечерам = in the evenings / in the evenings generally, emphasizing repeated action over many evenings, while вечером can be either today’s evening or a general evening context, depending on context.

Why do we use выключаю instead of выключу in this sentence?

Russian verbs come in aspect pairs: imperfective vs perfective.

выключаю comes from выключать (imperfective)
выключу comes from выключить (perfective)

Here are the key ideas:

Имperfective (выключаю) in the present tense usually means:
- a habit / routine: Вечером я выключаю телевизор = I (normally) turn off the TV in the evening.
- an ongoing process (not complete yet).
Perfective (выключу) has no true present tense; its “present” form actually refers to the future:
- Я выключу телевизор = I will turn off the TV (one time, at some point).

In your sentence, we’re describing a regular evening routine, so the imperfective present (выключаю) is the natural choice.
If you change it to выключу, you change the meaning to something like:

Вечером я выключу телевизор = This evening I will turn off the TV (once, at some specific time).

What’s the difference between читаю книгу and прочитаю книгу?

Again, this is about aspect:

читать → читаю (imperfective)
прочитать → прочитаю (perfective)

Имperfective: читаю книгу

Focuses on the process or habit:
- Вечером я читаю книгу = In the evening I (usually) read a book / I spend the evening reading a book.
It does not say whether you finish the book.

Perfective: прочитаю книгу

Focuses on the result / completion:
- Вечером я прочитаю книгу = In the evening I will (manage to) read the book (from start to finish).
This is more like a one-time future plan with completion.

In the original sentence, we describe a typical routine, not a single completed reading, so читаю книгу (imperfective) is the natural choice.

Why is it книгу and not книга? And why does телевизор look like the basic form?

Both телевизор and книгу are direct objects, so they are in the accusative case.

Russian behaves differently depending on:

Gender (masculine/feminine/neuter)
Whether the noun is animate (living) or inanimate (non-living)

1. Книга → книгу

книга is feminine (ending in -а in the nominative).
Feminine -а in the accusative usually becomes -у:
- книга (subject) → книгу (object)
- Я читаю книгу = I am reading a book.

So книгу is just accusative singular feminine of книга.

2. Телевизор

телевизор is masculine inanimate.
For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative form = nominative form:
- телевизор (subject) → телевизор (object)
- Я выключаю телевизор = I turn off the TV.

So телевизор also is accusative here; it just looks like the base form because of this pattern.

Can the pronoun я be left out, like Вечером выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу?

In standard Russian, subject pronouns are usually not dropped the way they are in languages like Spanish.

Вечером я выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу. – natural.
Вечером выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу. – possible only in special contexts:
- in very informal speech when the subject is totally obvious (e.g. answering a question “Что ты делаешь вечерами?” – “Вечером выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу.”),
- in instructions / notes / diaries where “I” is understood.

But as a neutral, standalone sentence, it is better and more natural to include я.

Is the word order fixed? Can I say Я вечером выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу or Я выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу вечером?

Russian word order is flexible, and all of these are grammatically correct. The differences are about emphasis and style:

Вечером я выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу.
- Normal, slightly emphasizing when it happens.
- “In the evening, I turn off the TV and read a book.”
Я вечером выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу.
- More neutral order, slight emphasis on я (I).
- Also very natural in speech.
Я выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу вечером.
- Puts вечером at the end → some extra emphasis on the time:
  - Like “I turn off the TV and read a book in the evening (not in the morning/afternoon).”

All are fine; the original version just foregrounds the time phrase вечером.

Does и here mean “and then” (sequence) or “and at the same time”?

The conjunction и simply means and; by itself it does not mark sequence or simultaneity. The interpretation comes from context and common sense.

In Вечером я выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу:

World knowledge tells us we usually:
1. First turn off the TV,
2. Then read.
So it’s naturally understood as a sequence, even though и alone doesn’t strictly say “then”.

If you strongly wanted to emphasize sequence, you could use adverbs:

Сначала я выключаю телевизор, потом читаю книгу.
= First I turn off the TV, then I read a book.

But in everyday speech, “…выключаю телевизор и читаю книгу” normally implies that order.

What are the infinitive (dictionary) forms of выключаю and читаю, and how are these forms built?

The infinitives are:

выключаю → выключать (to turn off, imperfective)
читаю → читать (to read, imperfective)

Both are regular -ать verbs in the 1st conjugation. The pattern for я (1st person singular, present) is:

Take the infinitive -ать verb:
- читать, выключать
Remove -ть → чита-, выключа-
Add -ю:
- читаю, выключаю

So:

я читаю, ты читаешь, он читает, etc.
я выключаю, ты выключаешь, он выключает, etc.

Where is the stress in each word, and how do you pronounce the whole sentence?

Stressed vowels are marked with an accent:

Ве́чером – stress on ве́
я
выключа́ю – stress on ча́
телеви́зор – stress on ви́
и
чита́ю – stress on та́
кни́гу – stress on кни́

Full sentence with stress:

Ве́чером я выключа́ю телеви́зор и чита́ю кни́гу.

Approximate pronunciation (Latin letters):

VE-che-rum ya vy-klyu-CHÁ-yu tee-le-VÍ-zur i chi-TÁ-yu KNEE-goo

Key points:

ч is like ch in chair.
ю is like English you (in these forms it sounds like yu).
г in книгу is a hard g as in go.
Unstressed o/е can sound more like a/и in fast speech; the stress is crucial.

Can I omit телевизор or книгу and just say Вечером я выключаю и читаю?

Not in a neutral, standalone sentence. Both выключать and читать are transitive verbs: they normally require a direct object (what you turn off, what you read).

Вечером я выключаю и читаю sounds incomplete:
- “In the evening I turn off and read.” (Turn off what? Read what?)

You can omit the object if it is completely obvious from context:

– Ты выключил телевизор? – Да, выключаю.
(– Did you turn off the TV? – Yes, I’m turning it off.)
– Что ты обычно делаешь вечером? – Читаю.
(– What do you usually do in the evening? – I read.)

But in the original sentence, where you introduce the information for the first time, it’s natural to keep both objects: телевизор and книгу.

How could I make similar sentences for other times of day, like “In the morning I…”?

You can reuse the same structure with other time words in the instrumental:

Утром я выключаю компьютер и читаю новости.
= In the morning I turn off the computer and read the news.
Днём я работаю и пью кофе.
= During the day I work and drink coffee.
Ночью я смотрю фильм и ем пиццу.
= At night I watch a movie and eat pizza.

Pattern:

[Time word in instrumental] + я + [verb] + [object] + и + [verb] + [object].

So your original sentence follows this general model:

Ве́чером я выключа́ю televisór и чита́ю кни́гу.