Learn Hardcore Russian: Я хочу ещё хлеб.

However, you may also hear ещё хлеба instead of ещё хлеб. In that case хлеба is genitive, often used as a “partitive” genitive, meaning “some more bread” (an indefinite amount). Both are possible, with slightly different nuances (see below).

What exactly does ещё mean here?

In this sentence, ещё means “more”:

Я хочу ещё хлеб. – I want more bread.

The word ещё can have several meanings depending on context:

“more / another” – ещё хлеб, ещё воду (more bread, more water)
“still” – Я ещё здесь. (I’m still here.)
“yet” – Он ещё не пришёл. (He hasn’t come yet.)

In this particular sentence, it is clearly the “more” meaning.

Why is it Я хочу ещё хлеб, not Я хочу хлеб ещё?

Both word orders are technically possible, but they sound different:

Я хочу ещё хлеб. – Neutral, natural way to say “I want more bread.”
Here ещё is closely connected to хлеб: more bread.
Я хочу хлеб ещё. – Grammatically possible, but unusual and can sound awkward or very emphatic, like “I want bread as well / in addition (to something else).”

In Russian, adverbs like ещё normally stand before the word they modify. So ещё хлеб (more bread) is the normal choice.

Is Я хочу ещё хлеб polite enough, or does it sound rude?

Literally, Я хочу ещё хлеб is quite direct: “I want more bread.” It is not automatically rude, but it can sound too blunt in many social situations, especially with strangers or in a restaurant.

More polite variants:

Можно ещё хлеба? – “May I have some more bread?” (very common, polite)
Мне, пожалуйста, ещё хлеба. – “For me, please, some more bread.”
Я бы хотел(а) ещё хлеба. – “I would like some more bread.” (more formal/polite)

So your sentence is fine for speaking with close friends or family, but in polite contexts it’s better to soften it.

What is the difference between Я хочу ещё хлеб and Я хочу ещё хлеба?

Both can be used and both are understandable, but they suggest slightly different things:

Я хочу ещё хлеб.
- хлеб is in the accusative (same form as nominative).
- Often implies an item or a portion: another slice/loaf/basket, etc.
- Can sound a bit more “count-like”: “I want another bread / more bread (as a unit).”
Я хочу ещё хлеба.
- хлеба is genitive, used here as a partitive (“some bread”).
- Emphasizes an indefinite quantity: some more bread.
- This version is especially common in speech when talking about a bit more of a substance.

Both are acceptable; in everyday conversation, ещё хлеба is very natural for “some more bread.”

Why is there no word for “some” in the Russian sentence?

Russian normally does not use a separate word for “some” in this type of sentence. The idea of “some more bread” is expressed by:

using ещё (“more”), and
often by choosing the genitive case: ещё хлеба.

So:

Я хочу ещё хлеб(а). – literally “I want more bread,” but depending on case and context it can mean “I want some more bread.”

English needs “some” to sound natural; Russian usually doesn’t.

Can ещё here also mean “still,” like “I still want bread”?

In Я хочу ещё хлеб, ещё is understood as “more”, not “still.”

To say “I still want bread”, Russian would usually change the word order:

Я ещё хочу хлеб. – literally: “I still want bread.”

Compare:

Я хочу ещё хлеб. – I want more bread.
Я ещё хочу хлеб. – I still want bread (I haven’t changed my mind / I’m still hungry, etc.).

So position in the sentence helps decide whether ещё means “still” or “more.”

How is хочу formed, and what is the infinitive?

The verb is хотеть – “to want.”

Its main present-tense forms:

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

So хочу is the 1st person singular form of хотеть.

Is Я хочу too strong? Should I say Я бы хотел instead?

Я хочу literally means “I want” and can sound somewhat direct or demanding in some situations, especially with service staff or people you don’t know well.

To be softer or more polite, Russians often say:

Я бы хотел(а) ещё хлеба. – “I would like some more bread.”
Мне бы ещё хлеба. – “I’d like some more bread.” (colloquial, softer)

With friends or family, Я хочу ещё хлеб(а) is fine. With strangers or in formal situations, the “бы хотел(а)” or “можно…?” variants are better.

How do I pronounce Я хочу ещё хлеб correctly?

Approximate pronunciation with stress marked:

Я хочу́ ещё́ хле́б.

Tips:

хочу́ sounds like ha-CHU (the о is unstressed in the first syllable, so it’s closer to “ha” than “ho”).
ещё is ye-SHCHO, with stress on the second syllable: ещё́.
хлеб is like khlyeb:
- х is a throaty sound (like German “Bach”).
- е after хл gives something like hlyeb.

Rhythmically: Я хо-ЧУ е-ЩЁ ХЛЕБ.

Why is there no word for “the” in front of хлеб?

Russian has no articles (“a/an/the”). It doesn’t mark definiteness with separate words.

So хлеб can mean:

“bread”
“the bread”
“some bread”

The exact meaning comes from context, not from a word like “the” or “a.” In your sentence, context tells us it’s “more bread” or “some more bread.”

Is хлеб here a mass noun (like “bread”) or does it mean a specific piece, like “a loaf”?

It’s typically understood as a mass noun (“bread” in general), but depending on the situation it can imply a serving:

At the dinner table: “more bread” → more slices from the basket.
In a store or bakery: it could be understood more like “another loaf” / “another bread,” especially with ещё хлеб (accusative).

Russian uses хлеб for the substance, and more specific words when needed:

батон – a type of loaf (long white bread)
булка – a bun / small loaf
ломтик хлеба / кусок хлеба – a slice/piece of bread

Context decides what “more bread” means in practice.

Why is хлеб in the accusative/genitive instead of using a preposition like “of” or “for”?

Many Russian verbs take a direct object in a case without a preposition. Хотеть (“to want”) is one of them.

Я хочу хлеб. – I want bread. (accusative)
Я хочу ещё хлеба. – I want some more bread. (genitive/partitive)

English would use “for” or “of” in some phrases (“I’d like some more of that bread”), but Russian just changes the noun’s ending (its case), usually without a preposition.