Learn Hardcore Russian: Сначала я делаю домашнее задание, потом гуляю в парке. - First I do my homework, then I walk in the park.

In this sentence Сначала я делаю домашнее задание…, it introduces the first action in a sequence:
Сначала = first, first of all, at the beginning.

Common near-synonyms:

сперва – very close in meaning, a bit more colloquial.
во‑первых – “firstly” in a list of arguments (more formal, used in speech/writing when giving reasons).

So сначала … потом … is a very natural way to say “first … then …” about actions in time.

Why is я missing in the second part: потом гуляю в парке? Is that correct?

Yes, it’s correct and very natural.

Russian often omits the subject pronoun (я, ты, он, она, мы, вы, они) when it is clear from context and verb ending who is doing the action.

Сначала я делаю домашнее задание, потом гуляю в парке.
The ‑ю ending in гуляю already shows 1st person singular (“I walk”), so repeating я is not necessary.

You can say:

Сначала я делаю домашнее задание, потом я гуляю в парке.

This is also correct, just a bit more explicit or emphatic. In everyday speech, dropping the second я is more common.

Why is the present tense used (делаю, гуляю) if the person is talking about what they usually do or will do?

Russian present tense covers several uses that English separates:

Current action
- Я делаю домашнее задание. = I am doing my homework (right now).
Regular / habitual action
- Сначала я делаю домашнее задание, потом гуляю в парке.
  = First I do my homework, then I walk in the park (as a routine).
Near future plans (if context makes it clear)
- Сначала я делаю домашнее задание, потом (я) гуляю в парке.
  In context, this can also mean “First I’ll do my homework, then I’ll walk in the park.”

So делаю and гуляю are grammatically simple present, but in context they can describe routine or a planned sequence, just like English “I do … then I go …” when talking about a typical schedule.

What is домашнее задание exactly, and why does it look like that?

Домашнее задание = homework / assignment (literally: “home task/assignment”).

Breakdown:

домашнее – an adjective meaning “home / of the home”, neuter singular form.
задание – a neuter noun meaning “task, assignment”.

Grammatically:

The base form (nominative) is also домашнее задание.
In the sentence it is the direct object of делаю (“I do”), so it’s in the accusative.
For neuter inanimate nouns, nominative = accusative, so the ending doesn’t change.

So you see домашнее задание both as “homework” (subject) and “homework” (object) in the same form.

Why is the adjective домашнее ending in ‑ее, not something like домашний?

Adjectives in Russian agree in gender, number, and case with the nouns they describe.

The noun задание is neuter singular.
The corresponding nominative/accusative adjective ending for neuter singular is ‑ое / ‑ее.
So you get: домашнее задание (“home assignment”).

Compare:

домашний кот – masculine (кот, “cat”)
домашняя работа – feminine (работа, “work”)
домашнее задание – neuter (задание, “assignment”)

The meaning “home/homework” stays, but the ending changes to match the noun.

Could I say домашняя работа instead of домашнее задание?

Sometimes, but they’re not identical:

домашнее задание – what a teacher assigns (a specific task or set of tasks). This is the most neutral/standard way to say “homework (for school)”.
домашняя работа – literally “home work”; this can mean:
- chores or housework,
- or “home-based work” in other contexts,
- and less commonly, it can be used for schoolwork at home, but that’s not the default school term.

For typical school homework, домашнее задание (often shortened to дз) is the safest and most natural.

Why is it в парке and not something like в парк?

The difference is location vs. direction:

в парк (accusative) – into the park, movement towards/into:
- Я иду в парк. – I am going to the park.
в парке (prepositional) – in the park, location inside/at:
- Я гуляю в парке. – I am walking in the park.

In гуляю в парке, the person is already in the park, just walking around there, so the prepositional case (парке) is used.

What case is парке, and how do I recognize it?

Парке is the prepositional case of парк (“park”).

Typical pattern for masculine inanimate nouns like парк:

Nominative: парк (basic dictionary form)
Prepositional (with в, на, etc. for location): в парке – in the park

Clue:

For many masculine nouns ending in a consonant, the prepositional singular ends in ‑е:
город → в городе, магазин → в магазине, парк → в парке.

Why is there a comma before потом? There is no “and” (и) there.

Russian often uses a comma to separate clauses, even when there is no conjunction:

Сначала я делаю домашнее задание, потом гуляю в парке.

This is like saying:

“First I do my homework, then (I) walk in the park.”

It’s essentially two clauses joined in a sequence. You could also say:

Сначала я делаю домашнее задание, а потом гуляю в парке.

Here а functions a bit like “and then / while on the other hand.” The comma is still required before а.

Is there any difference between сначала … потом … and сначала … а потом …?

Yes, but it’s subtle:

Сначала … потом … – simple sequence, neutral:
- “First … then …”
Сначала … а потом … – also a sequence, but а adds a little contrast or emphasis:
- “First … and then (after that) …”
- It can sound a bit more expressive, or mark a clearer separation between the two actions.

In everyday speech, both are common. Your original sentence without а is perfectly normal.

Could I change the word order, like Я сначала делаю домашнее задание…? Does it change the meaning?

You can change the word order; the basic meaning stays the same, but the focus can shift slightly. All of these are possible:

Сначала я делаю домашнее задание, потом гуляю в парке.
Neutral: “First I do homework, then I walk.”
Я сначала делаю домашнее задание, потом гуляю в парке.
Slight emphasis on я (I): I first do homework, then (I) walk.
Сначала делаю домашнее задание, потом гуляю в парке.
Very natural, especially in spoken Russian; я is omitted but understood.
Домашнее задание я сначала делаю, потом гуляю в парке.
Strong focus on домашнее задание: “It’s my homework that I do first, then I walk…”

Russian word order is flexible; verb endings and context carry the grammatical roles, while order helps style and emphasis more than basic meaning here.

Why is it гулять and not something like идти? What exactly does гуляю в парке mean?

Гулять means “to stroll, to go for a walk, to be out walking”. It focuses on the activity of walking/spending time outside, not on the motion to a destination.

гуляю в парке – I am walking / strolling in the park, spending leisure time there.

Compare:

Я иду в парк. – I am going to the park (movement to the park).
Я гуляю в парке. – I am already in the park, walking around there.

So in your sentence, the idea is: after homework, the person spends time walking in the park, not just going there.

Why doesn’t Russian use any article like “the” or “a” in домашнее задание and в парке?

Russian has no articles at all. There is no direct equivalent of “a/an” or “the”.

So:

домашнее задание can mean “homework”, “a homework assignment”, or “the homework” depending on context.
в парке can be “in a park” or “in the park”.

The listener figures out specificity (a/the/this/that, etc.) from context, word order, stress, or additional words (like этот парк – “this park”, этот урок – “this lesson”).

What is the difference between делать / сделать and гулять / погулять? Could the sentence use the perfective forms?

Yes, the sentence could use perfective verbs, but the meaning shifts.

Pairs:

делать (imperfective) – сделать (perfective)
гулять (imperfective) – погулять (perfective)

Imperfective: process, repeated/habitual actions.
Perfective: completed, one-time action with a result.

Your original sentence:

Сначала я делаю домашнее задание, потом гуляю в парке.
→ Describes a routine or general order of actions: First I (usually) do homework, then I (usually) walk in the park.

With perfective:

Сначала я сделаю домашнее задание, потом погуляю в парке.
→ Sounds like a specific plan for one occasion:
First I will (completely) finish my homework, then I will go for a walk in the park.

So you choose imperfective vs perfective depending on whether you mean habit/routine or one completed event.

Is there any reflexive form like гуляться? Why do we just use гулять?

There is a verb гуляться, but it is:

rare,
colloquial,
and used in limited, often dialectal or playful contexts.

For the normal meaning “to walk / to go for a walk”, Russian uses гулять, not гуляться.

So:

Correct: Я гуляю в парке. – I walk in the park.
Don’t say here: Я гуляюсь в парке. – this sounds strange/wrong in standard Russian.