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По выходным я делаю стирку и вешаю бельё на балконе.

По выходным я делаю стирку и вешаю бельё на балконе.
On weekends I do the laundry and hang the clothes on the balcony.

Breakdown of По выходным я делаю стирку и вешаю бельё на балконе.

я
I
и
and
на
on
по
on
делать
to do
балкон
the balcony
выходные
the weekend
стирка
the laundry
вешать
to hang
бельё
the clothes
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Questions & Answers about По выходным я делаю стирку и вешаю бельё на балконе.

What does по выходным literally mean, and what case is it in?

По выходным means “on weekends / at weekends” in a habitual sense (“on weekends in general”).

  • по here is a preposition meaning “on / during (regularly)”.
  • выходным is the dative plural of выходной (день) = “day off / weekend day”.

So literally it’s “by (on) the weekend days”, but idiomatically: “on weekends (as a habit)”.

What is the difference between по выходным, на выходных, and в выходные?

All three can refer to weekends, but with slightly different feel and frequency of use:

  • по выходным – very common, clearly stresses regular, repeated action:

    • По выходным я делаю стирку. – “I do laundry on weekends (as a routine).”

  • на выходных – means “on/over the weekend(s)”; can be one specific upcoming/past weekend or general:

    • На выходных я ездил к родителям. – “I went to my parents over the weekend.”
      Used a lot in everyday speech.

  • в выходные – also “on weekends”, sounds neutral, a bit more like “during the weekend days”:

    • В выходные мы обычно отдыхаем.

In your sentence, по выходным emphasizes a habit.

Why does the sentence use делаю стирку instead of just стираю? Are both correct?

Both are correct, but they sound slightly different:

  • делать стирку (literally “to do a washing”) focuses on the activity/event of doing laundry.

    • По выходным я делаю стирку. – “On weekends I do the laundry.”

  • стирать is the simple verb “to wash (laundry)”:

    • По выходным я стираю. – “On weekends I wash (my clothes).”

Nuance:

  • делаю стирку sounds a bit like “I run a load of laundry / I have a laundry day.”
  • стираю more directly describes the process of washing.

In everyday speech, По выходным я стираю is very common and completely natural.

Why is the present tense (делаю, вешаю) used if the meaning is “I do this regularly”?

In Russian, the present tense of an imperfective verb is used for:

  1. Actions happening right now
  2. Regular / habitual actions

Here:

  • делаю (from делать) and
  • вешаю (from вешать)

are imperfective present, so they naturally express a habit:

  • По выходным я делаю стирку… – “On weekends I (usually) do the laundry…”
  • English also uses present simple for habits (“I do laundry on weekends”), so the logic is similar.
What exactly does бельё mean? Is it “underwear” or just “laundry”?

Бельё is a general word that can mean:

  1. Laundry / washed clothes (especially things you hang to dry)
  2. Linen (bed sheets, pillowcases, etc.)
  3. Underwear (especially in some contexts)

In your sentence, вешаю бельё most naturally means “I hang my washed clothes / laundry (to dry)”.

Note:

  • It’s a neuter, uncountable-like noun.
  • You usually don’t say “один бельё, два белья”; you’d say постирать бельё, повесить бельё, etc.

Context determines whether it’s understood more as “laundry”, “linens”, or “underwear”.

How is бельё stressed and pronounced, and what is the function of ё here?
  • Stress: бельё – stress is on -ё: [bel-YO].
  • The letter ё always indicates stress and is pronounced /yo/.

Grammatically:

  • бельё is neuter, singular (ending in -ё).
  • The base is бель- (related to белый = “white”), because traditionally laundry/linen was white.

In writing, Russians sometimes replace ё with е (белье), but the pronunciation remains [bel-YO].

Why is it на балконе and not something like в балконе? What case is that?

На балконе = “on the balcony”:

  • на
    • prepositional case (балконе, from балкон)
  • It indicates location on a surface / in an open area: balcony, table, wall, beach, etc.

Contrast:

  • на балконе – “on the balcony” (where the laundry is hanging)
  • на балкон (accusative) – “onto the balcony” (movement towards: Я выхожу на балкон – “I go out onto the balcony.”)

You don’t say в балконе because в is used for being inside something (room, box, building). A balcony is seen as an open platform, so Russian uses на.

Could the word order be Я по выходным делаю стирку… instead? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, that order is possible:

  • По выходным я делаю стирку…
  • Я по выходным делаю стирку…

Both mean the same thing: “I do laundry on weekends.”

Nuance:

  • По выходным я… slightly emphasizes the time frame first: “As for weekends, I do laundry…”
  • Я по выходным… first presents the subject (I), then adds when this happens.

In everyday speech, both are natural; the difference is minimal.

Is вешаю the only verb I can use with бельё, or are there alternatives?

Вешать бельё is the basic, very common phrase: “to hang the laundry (up).”

You can also say:

  • развешивать бельё – “to hang out the laundry / to hang it piece by piece” (emphasizes distributing it along the line).
  • повесить бельё – the perfective of вешать: “to hang the laundry (once, to completion).”

Compare:

  • Каждую субботу я вешаю бельё на балконе. – habit.
  • Сейчас я повешу бельё на балконе. – “I’m going to hang the laundry now / I will hang it (one completed action).”

In your habitual sentence, вешаю бельё is exactly right.