Questions & Answers about Я пока остаюсь дома.
In Я пока остаюсь дома, пока mainly means “for now / for the time being”.
It implies that the situation is temporary and may change later:
- Я пока остаюсь дома. – For now I’m staying at home (but I might go out or move somewhere later).
It can often be translated as:
- for now
- for the time being
- sometimes “at the moment” (with a nuance of “temporarily”)
It is not exactly the same as “still” (ещё / всё ещё) and not exactly “yet” in the “not yet” sense (ещё не), though in some contexts English might use still or yet in the translation.
No. In Я пока остаюсь дома, пока does not mean “until”.
Russian пока has two main uses:
Temporal “while/for now” – that’s the meaning here
- Я пока остаюсь дома. – For now I’m staying at home.
“Until” when followed by не (пока не)
- Подожди, пока я приду. – Wait until I come.
- Я не уйду, пока ты не вернёшься. – I won’t leave until you come back.
Since in Я пока остаюсь дома there is no не and no dependent clause, it clearly has the “for now / for the time being” meaning, not “until”.
Остаюсь is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb оставаться (imperfective, reflexive).
- Infinitive: оставаться – to stay, to remain
- Я остаюсь – I stay / I am staying
- Ты остаёшься – you stay
- Он/она остаётся – he/she stays
- Мы остаёмся, вы остаетесь, они остаются
Literally, я остаюсь дома = I remain at home / I’m staying at home.
The sentence Я пока остаюсь дома therefore means:
For now, I’m staying (remaining) at home.
The -сь ending is the reflexive marker (a reduced form of -ся). It turns оставать(ся) into оставаться.
Here, the reflexive form оставаться means “to stay / remain”, without a direct object. The non‑reflexive related verb оставлять means “to leave something/someone (behind)” and takes an object:
- Я остаюсь дома. – I’m staying at home (I remain here myself).
- Я оставляю книгу дома. – I’m leaving the book at home.
So, -сь is essential: without it, оставать on its own doesn’t carry the everyday “stay, remain” meaning; оставаться (with -ся/-сь) does.
Russian uses three different but related forms:
дома – “at home” (location, where you are)
- Я остаюсь дома. – I’m staying at home.
в доме – “in the house” (inside a particular house/building)
- Я остаюсь в доме. – I’m staying inside the house (not going outside).
домой – “(to) home” (direction, where you’re going)
- Я иду домой. – I’m going home.
In Я пока остаюсь дома, we’re talking about current location (“at home”), so дома is the natural choice.
You could, but the nuance changes.
Я пока остаюсь дома. – For now I’m staying at home.
Neutral, about your general place (home vs outside/elsewhere).Я пока остаюсь в доме. – For now I’m staying in the house.
This sounds more physical and specific: maybe you’re deciding whether to go outside, into the yard, or somewhere else, and you’re saying you’ll remain inside the building.
So дома is broader (“at home”), в доме emphasizes the inside of the house.
They are different aspects of the same basic verb pair:
- оставаться (imperfective) → я остаюсь – I stay / I’m staying
- остаться (perfective) → я останусь – I will stay (and that will be the result)
Imperfective: остаюсь
Used for ongoing, repeated, or process-focused actions:
- Я пока остаюсь дома. – For now I’m staying at home (situation in progress).
Perfective: останусь
Used for a single, completed decision/result, often future:
- Я останусь дома. – I’ll stay home (I’ll choose not to go out).
So:
- Я пока остаюсь дома. = describing your current, temporary state.
- Я пока останусь дома. = For now I’ll (choose to) stay home – a decision about what you’re going to do right now / next.
Yes, you can. Russian often omits personal pronouns when the verb ending makes the subject clear.
- Я пока остаюсь дома. – neutral, fully explicit.
- Пока остаюсь дома. – completely natural in speech; sounds a bit shorter, more casual.
Context usually makes it obvious that я is meant, because остаюсь is 1st person singular. So both versions are correct; the version without я is just slightly more informal or conversational.
Yes, but each option has a slightly different flavor.
Я пока остаюсь дома.
Very natural and common; пока smoothly modifies the whole statement.Пока я остаюсь дома.
Also correct. Here пока strongly emphasizes “for now / for the time being” at the beginning, often contrasting with a future change:- For now I’m staying home (but later I might move / go out).
Я остаюсь пока дома.
Grammatically possible, but sounds less neutral and more “split.” In most everyday contexts people would prefer 1 or 2. Placing пока between остаюсь and дома isn’t wrong, but it’s less smooth.
For a learner, Я пока остаюсь дома and Пока я остаюсь дома are the best patterns to copy.
They describe different kinds of “being at home”:
Я пока остаюсь дома.
For now I’m staying at home.
Focus on a temporary choice or situation, with an idea that it may change.Я сейчас дома.
I’m at home right now.
Purely about your current location, no implication about later.Я живу дома.
Literally I live at home.
Usually means you live with your parents/family, as opposed to living separately. It’s about your long‑term living arrangement, not a temporary decision.
So пока остаюсь = temporary decision; сейчас дома = current location; живу дома = long-term situation.
In most contexts, я остаюсь corresponds to “I am staying” (present continuous), especially when you’re talking about a current or near‑future situation:
- Я пока остаюсь дома. – I’m staying home for now.
Russian doesn’t formally distinguish simple vs continuous present (I stay vs I am staying). The imperfective present (остаюсь) can usually cover both, and context decides the best English translation.
Here, because of пока and the idea of a temporary arrangement, English “I’m staying (home) for now” is a very natural match.
- пока́ – stress on the second syllable: пака́
- остаю́сь – stress on ю: остаю́сь
- до́ма (meaning “at home”) – stress on the first syllable: до́ма
So spoken slowly and clearly:
Я пока́ остаю́сь до́ма.