Learn Hardcore Russian: Я хочу уехать из города завтра утром. - I want to leave the city tomorrow morning.

In Russian, verbs that express desire, necessity, and intention (like хотеть, любить, мочь, надо, нужно) are followed by an infinitive.

So the pattern is:

Я хочу уехать. – I want to leave.
Я могу уехать. – I can leave.
Я люблю читать. – I like to read.

You cannot combine хочу with a finite verb (уезжаю, еду, etc.). That would be ungrammatical. After хочу you must use the infinitive form: уехать, поехать, ехать, уйти, etc., depending on the meaning.

What is the difference between уехать, ехать, поехать, and уезжать? Why is уехать used here?

All these are related to the verb ехать (to go by vehicle), but aspect and prefixes change the meaning:

ехать – to go, to be going (by vehicle) (imperfective, in progress)
- Я еду в город. – I am going to the city.
поехать – to set off, to start going (by vehicle) (perfective, beginning of the trip)
- Я хочу поехать в город. – I want to go (set off) to the city.
уезжать – to be leaving (by vehicle) regularly or in progress (imperfective)
- Я уезжаю из города. – I am leaving the city (now / regularly).
уехать – to leave (by vehicle) and be gone (perfective, result: you’re no longer there)
- Я хочу уехать из города. – I want to leave the city (be gone from it).

In your sentence, уехать emphasizes the result: you will no longer be in the city. That fits well with из города (“out of the city”) and with a planned, one‑time action “tomorrow morning.”

Why is it из города and not от города or с города?

In Russian, different prepositions mean different kinds of “from”:

из + Genitive – from the inside of something (out of a place, a city, a building)
- из города – from/out of the city
- из дома – out of the house
от + Genitive – from a person, from near something, away from a point
- уйти от дома – to go away from (the area of) the house
- получить письмо от друга – to get a letter from a friend
с(о) + Genitive – from the surface or top of something; also from an event, from a hill, etc.
- с работы – from work
- с крыши – from (off) the roof

Leaving a city is understood as going out of its boundaries, so из города is the natural and standard choice.
от города would sound like “from (the vicinity of) the city” (not really “leaving the city”), and с города is wrong in this context.

Why is it города and not город after из?

Города is the genitive singular form of город (city).

Many prepositions in Russian require a specific case. Из always takes the genitive:

из города – from the city
из школы – from the school
из комнаты – from the room

So:

город – nominative (dictionary form)
города – genitive singular here (meaning “of the city” after из)

The preposition из forces город into the genitive, giving города.

What’s the difference between Я хочу уехать из города and Я уеду из города?

These sentences focus on different things:

Я хочу уехать из города.
Emphasis on desire/wish: I want to leave the city. It doesn’t say for sure that you will; it only states that you want to.
Я уеду из города.
Future perfective: I will leave the city. This stresses the fact of the future action, more like a decision or prediction, not just a desire.

Your original sentence adds time: Я хочу уехать из города завтра утром. – I want to leave the city tomorrow morning.
If you say Я уеду из города завтра утром, that sounds like a definite plan: I will leave the city tomorrow morning.

Why is утром used for “in the morning”? Why not утро or something like в утро?

To say “in the morning” in Russian, you normally use the instrumental form of утро:

утро – nominative (morning)
утром – instrumental (in the morning, by morning)

This is a fixed, very common time expression:

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

So завтра утром literally is “tomorrow in‑the‑morning.”

You don’t say в утро in modern Russian for “in the morning.” That sounds unnatural or archaic.

Can I change the word order? For example, can I say Завтра утром я хочу уехать из города?

Yes, Russian word order is relatively flexible, and several variants are correct:

Я хочу уехать из города завтра утром.
Завтра утром я хочу уехать из города.
Я завтра утром хочу уехать из города.

They all are grammatical. The differences are mostly about emphasis and flow, not basic meaning:

Starting with Завтра утром highlights the time: Tomorrow morning, I want to leave the city…
Keeping Я хочу уехать at the beginning keeps the focus on I want to leave.

For a neutral sentence, your original order and Завтра утром я хочу уехать из города are both very natural.

Could I drop я and just say Хочу уехать из города завтра утром?

Yes, you can. Subject pronouns in Russian are often omitted when the verb ending clearly shows the person:

Хочу уехать из города завтра утром. – [I] want to leave the city tomorrow morning.

The ending -у in хочу already signals first person singular (я), so я is not strictly necessary.

However:

Including я (Я хочу…) is more neutral and explicit.
Omitting it (Хочу…) can sound a bit more informal, emotional, or context‑dependent, as if continuing a conversation: “Enough, I’m tired. Want to leave the city tomorrow morning.”

Does хочу change depending on the gender of the speaker?

No. In the present/future tense, хочу does not change with gender:

Я хочу – I want (same for male and female)

It changes only with person and number:

я хочу – I want
ты хочешь – you want (singular, informal)
он/она/оно хочет – he/she/it wants
мы хотим – we want
вы хотите – you want (plural or formal)
они хотят – they want

Gender shows up in the past tense:

Я хотел (male: I wanted)
Я хотела (female: I wanted)

What is the difference between уехать из города and выехать из города?

Both can mean “to leave the city (by vehicle),” but there are nuances:

уехать из города – very common, neutral: to leave the city and be gone from it.
- Focus on the fact that you are no longer in the city.
выехать из города – literally “to drive out / ride out of the city.”
- Often used when the mode of transport (car, bus, etc.) is implied, or when talking about the physical act of exiting the city limits.
- Common in official or practical contexts: Мы выехали из города в 6 утра. – We departed/drove out of the city at 6 a.m.

In everyday speech about your plans or wishes, уехать из города is usually more natural and general.

Can I say Я хочу поехать из города завтра утром instead of уехать?

That would not be idiomatic. The usual combinations are:

поехать в город – to go (set off) to the city
уехать из города – to leave / go away from the city

Поехать focuses on starting a trip to somewhere, so it combines with в or на:

поехать в деревню – go (set off) to the village
поехать на море – go (set off) to the sea

With из города (“from the city”), Russian prefers уехать.
So you should say Я хочу уехать из города завтра утром.

Where is the stress in хочу, уехать, города, завтра, and утром?

The stresses are:

хочу – ha‑ЧУ (second syllable)
уехать – у‑Е‑хатʹ (stress on е)
города – ГО‑ро‑да (first syllable)
завтра – ЗА‑втра (first syllable)
утром – У‑тром (first syllable)

So the whole sentence with stressed syllables marked:

Я хоЧУ уЕхать ИЗ ГОрода ЗАвтра Утром.

Is there a more formal or stronger way to say “leave the city,” like “to abandon the city”?

Yes, you can make it stronger or more formal:

Я хочу покинуть город. – I want to leave/abandon the city.
- покинуть is more formal and can sound more serious or dramatic than уехать.

You can also specify насовсем (for good):

Я хочу уехать из города насовсем. – I want to leave the city for good.
Я хочу покинуть город навсегда. – I want to abandon/leave the city forever.

Compared to these, Я хочу уехать из города завтра утром. is neutral and simply states a plan or wish.