Мой друг не любит задерживаться на работе вечером.

My friend does not like to stay late at work in the evening.

Breakdown of Мой друг не любит задерживаться на работе вечером.

• друг: the friend
• мой: my
• на: at
• работа: the work
• не: not
• вечером: in the evening
• любить: to like
• задерживаться: to get held up

Questions & Answers about Мой друг не любит задерживаться на работе вечером.

Why is it не любит задерживаться, with an infinitive, and not something like “doesn’t like staying late” using a different form?

In Russian, when you say that someone likes or doesn’t like doing something, you almost always use любить / не любить + infinitive:

• Я люблю читать. – I like reading.
• Он не любит работать. – He doesn’t like working.

So here:

• не любит задерживаться = “(he) doesn’t like to stay late / staying late.”

Задерживаться is the infinitive form (“to stay late”), so the structure is:

• Мой друг – my friend (subject, nominative)
• не любит – does not like (3rd person singular)
• задерживаться – to stay late (infinitive, what he doesn’t like doing)

This is the standard way to express “like doing / hate doing” in Russian.

Why is the verb задерживаться reflexive (with -ся) and not just задерживать?

The pair задерживать / задерживаться works like this:

• задерживать кого‑то – to delay someone/something (transitive)
  
  • Поезд задерживают. – They are delaying the train.
• задерживаться – to be delayed / to stay longer than planned (intransitive, reflexive)
  
  • Я задерживаюсь на работе. – I’m staying late at work.

In the sentence Мой друг не любит задерживаться на работе вечером, your friend is himself staying late (no direct object), so Russian uses the reflexive intransitive verb задерживаться.

If you used задерживать here, it would sound like he is delaying something else (a person, a process, etc.), which is not the intended meaning.

What is the difference between задерживаться and задержаться?

They form an aspect pair:

• задерживаться – imperfective, “to stay late / to be staying late” (process, repeated or general action)
• задержаться – perfective, “to stay late (once) / to get delayed (once)” (single, completed action)

In your sentence we talk about a general habit or tendency (“he doesn’t like staying late (in general)”), so Russian uses the imperfective:

• Он не любит задерживаться на работе. – He doesn’t like staying late at work (as a rule).

If you said:

• Он не любит задержаться на работе.

it would sound strange or ungrammatical in standard Russian, because любить + infinitive with perfective is unusual for describing general likes/dislikes. For general preferences, Russian strongly prefers imperfective infinitives.

Why is it на работе, and which case is работе?

Работе is prepositional case singular of работа.

The preposition на can take different cases, but:

• на + prepositional often = “at / on (location)”
  • на столе – on the table
  • на работе – at work

So на работе literally means “at (the) work”, and idiomatically “at work”.

Compare:

• идти на работу – to go to work (direction → accusative: работу)
• быть на работе – to be at work (location → prepositional: работе)

Could we say в работе instead of на работе?

Not with this meaning.

• на работе = at one’s workplace, at work (physical / situational location)
• в работе literally means “in the work”, and is used in more abstract contexts:
  • Есть ошибки в работе. – There are mistakes in the work.
  • Он сейчас в работе. – He is currently engaged in work (more like “in the middle of working,” stylistically different).

To say “My friend doesn’t like staying late at work,” the natural phrase is на работе, not в работе.

Why is вечером used without any preposition? What form is it?

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

Russian often uses the instrumental (sometimes also accusative/genitive) without a preposition to express time:

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

So:

• Мой друг не любит задерживаться на работе вечером.
  = “My friend doesn’t like staying late at work in the evening.”

Alternative time expressions:

• по вечерам – in the evenings (regularly)
• вечерами – in the evenings (instrumental plural, also “in the evenings”).

But with a single, generic “in the evening”, вечером is standard.

Can the word order be changed? For example, can I say Вечером мой друг не любит задерживаться на работе?

Yes, Russian word order is quite flexible. All of these are grammatically correct:

1. Мой друг не любит задерживаться на работе вечером.
2. Вечером мой друг не любит задерживаться на работе.
3. Мой друг вечером не любит задерживаться на работе.

Differences are about emphasis and flow, not basic grammar:

• Starting with Вечером (2) emphasizes the time: “In the evening, my friend doesn’t like…”
• Keeping Мой друг first (1, 3) is more neutral, subject-focused.

All three are natural in conversation, with slight nuances of what the speaker is foregrounding (subject, time, etc.).

What’s the difference between не любит задерживаться and любит не задерживаться?

They both contain любить, but the position of не changes the meaning:

1. не любит задерживаться – “doesn’t like staying late”

   • Negation applies to любить (like).
   • Neutral statement about a dislike.

2. любит не задерживаться – literally “likes not to stay late”

   • Negation applies to задерживаться (stay late).
   • This sounds more marked; it emphasizes the contrast: he specifically enjoys leaving on time / not staying late.

In everyday Russian, to say “He doesn’t like staying late at work,” the normal and natural form is:

• Он не любит задерживаться на работе.

Любит не задерживаться would be used only in contexts where the speaker deliberately contrasts it with someone who does like staying late, or as stylistic emphasis.

Why is it мой друг and not моя друг? What if the friend is female?

Друг is grammatically masculine, so its adjective/possessive must be masculine:

• мой друг – my friend (grammatically masculine)

If you want to specify that the friend is female, you normally use подруга:

• моя подруга – my (female) friend (feminine noun → моя)

So:

• Мой друг не любит задерживаться на работе вечером.
  – My (male) friend doesn’t like staying late at work in the evening.

If you’re talking about a female friend:

• Моя подруга не любит задерживаться на работе вечером.

Note: друг can also mean “friend” in a general neutral sense, but grammatically it always behaves as masculine.

Can друг mean “boyfriend” here?

Context decides. Друг primarily means “friend (male)”. It can occasionally be used to mean “boyfriend” in colloquial speech, but usually:

• друг – male friend
• парень / мой парень – boyfriend
• подруга – female friend
• девушка / моя девушка – girlfriend

In isolation, Мой друг не любит задерживаться на работе вечером is most naturally understood as “My (male) friend doesn’t like staying late at work in the evening,” not specifically “my boyfriend.”

How does любить conjugate, and what is the exact form не любит?

Любить is a second‑conjugation verb. Present tense:

• я люблю – I love/like
• ты любишь – you like (singular, informal)
• он / она / оно любит – he / she / it likes
• мы любим – we like
• вы любите – you like (plural / formal)
• они любят – they like

In the sentence, не любит is:

• 3rd person singular, present tense: любит
• plus the particle не for negation: не любит – “does not like”.

So Мой друг не любит… = “My friend does not like…”