Learn Hardcore Russian: Сегодня я хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть вечером. - Today I want to at least rest a little in the evening.

This just says “I want to rest a little this evening” without the “minimum / I’ll settle for this” nuance. It sounds more neutral and less “I’d be grateful even for that small amount.”

Why is отдохнуть used and not отдыхать? What’s the difference?

Both come from the verb отдыхать / отдохнуть (to rest), but:

отдыхать – imperfective: process, repeated/habitual action
- to be resting, to rest regularly
отдохнуть – perfective: a single, complete action/result
- to get some rest, to have (and finish) a rest

In this sentence:

…хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть…

The speaker wants a completed bit of rest – to manage to rest at least a little. That’s why the perfective отдохнуть is natural.

If you said:

Сегодня я хочу немного отдыхать вечером.

It would sound like you’re focusing on being in the process of resting in the evenings (for some period), not on getting a bit of rest once. It’s possible in some contexts, but feels odd here.

What’s the nuance of немного here? Could we use чуть-чуть or немножко instead?

Немного literally means “a little / not much.” It’s neutral and works well in both spoken and written language.

You could also say:

…хочу хотя бы немножко отдохнуть… – slightly more informal, affectionate.
…хочу хотя бы чуть-чуть отдохнуть… – very colloquial, strongly emphasizes “a tiny bit.”

All three are grammatically fine here; the difference is mostly:

немного – neutral.
немножко / чуть-чуть – more colloquial, with чуть-чуть sounding like “just a tiny bit.”

Why is it вечером and not something like в вечер? What case is that?

Вечером is the instrumental singular of вечер used adverbially to mean “in the evening.”

Russian often uses bare instrumental for time expressions:

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

So:

Сегодня я хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть вечером.
≈ Today I want to rest at least a little in the evening.

You do not normally say *в вечер in modern standard Russian for “in the evening.” You either say вечером or сегодня вечером.

Isn’t it redundant to have both сегодня and вечером? Could we just say Сегодня вечером?

You’re right that they both refer to time, and they can be combined:

Сегодня вечером я хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть.

This is very natural and probably the most typical way to say it.

The original:

Сегодня я хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть вечером.

is also correct. It emphasizes “today” early in the sentence and then clarifies “in the evening” later. It’s a bit more spread out but still normal.

So you have options:

Сегодня вечером я хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть. – compact, very natural.
Сегодня я хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть вечером. – stylistically fine, just a different rhythm.

Where can хотя бы and немного go in the sentence? Are there positions that sound wrong?

In the original, they form a unit:

…хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть…
→ “I want to rest at least a little.”

Natural placements:

Сегодня я хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть вечером.
Сегодня я хочу вечером хотя бы немного отдохнуть. (slight change of rhythm, still OK)

Less natural or awkward:

Сегодня я хотя бы немного хочу отдохнуть вечером.
This sounds like “I at least want a little”, as if “a little” modifies want, not rest. Native speakers generally avoid this.

General guideline: keep хотя бы немного close to the verb or noun it qualifies. Here, it qualifies отдохнуть, so it goes right before that verb.

Can we omit я and just say Сегодня хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть вечером?

Yes, this is possible, especially in informal speech or writing:

Сегодня хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть вечером.

Russian is not fully “pronoun-dropping” like Spanish, but 1st person я is often omitted when it’s clear from context who’s speaking.

Nuances:

With я – clearer, more neutral, fully standard in all contexts.
Without я – a bit more colloquial, can sound slightly more “diary-like” or reflective.

Both are grammatical here.

Could we say собираюсь or планирую instead of хочу? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can, and it does change the nuance:

Сегодня я хочу хотя бы немного отдохнуть вечером.
– I want to rest a bit this evening (desire, wish).
Сегодня я собираюсь хотя бы немного отдохнуть вечером.
– I am going to / intend to rest a bit this evening (a plan or intention).
Сегодня я планирую хотя бы немного отдохнуть вечером.
– I plan to rest a bit this evening (more formal or deliberate planning).

All three are grammatically fine; the choice depends on whether you focus on desire (хочу) or intention/plan (собираюсь / планирую).

Could we replace хочу отдохнуть with future tense отдохну? For example: Сегодня я хотя бы немного отдохну вечером?

You can say:

Сегодня я хотя бы немного отдохну вечером.

But this no longer means “I want to rest a little”. Instead, it means something like:

“Today I *will at least get a little rest this evening”
– a *prediction / confident statement that this will happen.

Compare:

хочу отдохнуть – expresses wish/desire, not guaranteed.
отдохну – expresses decided future action or expectation that it will actually happen.

So both are correct Russian, but they say different things.

How is the whole sentence pronounced, and where is the stress in each word?

Stresses (marked with ´) and a simple pronunciation guide:

Сегóдня – [sʲɪˈvodnʲə]
я – [ja]
хочу́ – [xɐˈt͡ɕu]
хотя́ – [xɐˈtʲa]
бы – [bɨ] (unstressed, very short)
немнóго – [nʲɪˈmnoɡə]
отдохну́ть – [ət̪d̪ɐˈxn̪utʲ] (note the stress on -ну́ть)
вéчером – вé-че-ром [ˈvʲet͡ɕɪrəm]

So you get:

Сегóдня я хочу́ хотя́ бы немнóго отдохну́ть вéчером.

Only one stressed syllable per word; all the unstressed о’s are pronounced more like “a” or a reduced vowel.