Learn Hardcore Russian: В будни я часто перерабатываю и поздно ложусь спать. - On weekdays I often overwork and go to bed late.

будни = weekdays, workdays (as opposed to weekends / holidays).
The preposition в here is the same one you see in в понедельник (“on Monday”), в выходные (“on the weekend”).

So:

В будни → “on weekdays” (i.e., generally, when it’s a normal workday, not a weekend).
It describes a regular time frame, not a single specific week.

Why is it в будни and not по будням? Are they different?

Both are correct and both mean roughly “on weekdays,” but there is a nuance:

в будни – very common, slightly more neutral. “On weekdays (in general).”
по будням – also “on weekdays,” often with a stronger sense of regularly, as a rule.

In your sentence you could say:

В будни я часто перерабатываю…
По будням я часто перерабатываю…

Both sound natural. По будням can subtly emphasize “as a rule, on workdays” a bit more, but in most everyday contexts they’re interchangeable.

What exactly does перерабатываю mean here? Is it “I work again” or “I overwork”?

The verb перерабатывать has several meanings depending on context:

to rework / revise (a text, a plan)
to process (raw materials, information)
to overwork / work too much / work overtime (colloquial, about a person)

In this sentence, with я часто перерабатываю и поздно ложусь спать, the natural meaning is:

“I often overwork / work too much / do overtime.”

You understand this from context:

it’s about weekdays,
it’s connected to going to bed late,
so it’s clearly about working too much, not reworking a document or processing materials.

Is перерабатываю imperfective or perfective, and why is that aspect used?

Перерабатываю is imperfective, present tense, 1st person singular of перерабатывать.

Imperfective is used for repeated, habitual, or ongoing actions.
The adverb часто (“often”) shows it’s a repeated habit.

So:

Я часто перерабатываю = “I often overwork / I often work overtime.”

The perfective form would be переработать (future or past, one completed action). You would not normally say:

✗ Я часто переработаю – this sounds wrong with часто, because perfective usually refers to single, completed actions, not a general habit.

Can перерабатываю stand alone, or does it normally need an object?

It can do both, depending on the meaning:

With an object:
- перерабатываю текст – I’m reworking the text.
- перерабатываю сырьё – I process the raw materials.
Without an object (as in your sentence), it means:
- перерабатываю – I overwork / I work too much / I do overtime.

In modern spoken Russian, this intransitive, “I overwork” meaning is very common and perfectly natural.

What does ложусь mean, and why does it end in -сь?

Ложусь is the 1st person singular present of the verb ложиться (“to lie down, to go to bed”).

The ending -сь (or -ся in other forms) marks a reflexive verb.
ложиться literally means “to lay oneself down.”

So:

я ложусь = “I lie down” / “I am going to bed.”

Russian uses reflexive endings (-ся / -сь) for many verbs where English doesn’t explicitly say “myself”:

мыться – to wash (oneself)
одеваться – to dress (oneself)
бриться – to shave (oneself)
ложиться – to lie down (oneself)

Why do we say ложусь спать if ложусь already means “I lie down”? Isn’t that redundant?

Ложусь спать is a very common fixed expression meaning “I go to bed (to sleep)”.

ложусь by itself = “I am lying down,” but not necessarily to sleep (you might lie down on the sofa to relax, stretch, etc.).
ложусь спать = “I am lying down in order to sleep,” i.e., “I go to bed.”

Adding спать clarifies the purpose of lying down:

Я ложусь – I’m lying down (for whatever reason).
Я ложусь спать – I’m going to sleep / going to bed.

How is ложусь pronounced, and where is the stress?

Ложусь is pronounced approximately like [ла-ЖУС'], with:

ж like the s in “measure,”
ш sound merged in spelling as ж
- сь, and
the stress on the final syllable: ложу́сь.

Infinitive and other forms:

ложи́ться – stress on -жи́-
я ложу́сь – stress moves to -у́-
ты ложи́шься
они ложа́тся

So in your sentence: поздно ложу́сь спать.

Why is the adverb часто placed between я and перерабатываю? Could I put it somewhere else?

The neutral word order is:

Я часто перерабатываю – “I often overwork.”

Часто usually goes before the verb it modifies, and putting it between the subject and the verb is very natural.

Possible variants:

Я часто перерабатываю – neutral, very common.
Часто я перерабатываю – emphasizes часто (“Often, I overwork…”).
Я перерабатываю часто – also possible, with a mild emphasis or a slightly more “afterthought” feel.

In everyday speech, Я часто перерабатываю is the most typical choice.

Why is there no comma before и поздно ложусь спать?

In Russian, when you have two verbs (predicates) with the same subject connected by и, you do not usually put a comma between them:

я часто перерабатываю и поздно ложусь спать

Here, both verbs share the same subject я:

(я) часто перерабатываю
(я) поздно ложусь спать

They’re homogeneous predicates joined by и, so no comma is needed:

Он читает и слушает музыку.
Мы поужинали и легли спать.

A comma would appear if there were more complex structures (different subjects, clauses, etc.), but not in this simple coordination.

Could I drop the я and say В будни часто перерабатываю и поздно ложусь спать?

Yes, you can.

Russian is a pro‑drop language in the present tense: the verb ending (-ю in перерабатываю, -усь in ложусь) already shows the subject (я), so the pronoun is often omitted:

В будни часто перерабатываю и поздно ложусь спать.

This sounds natural and colloquial.

Including я:

В будни я часто перерабатываю…

can slightly emphasize “I” (for contrast, or for clarity in a longer passage), but grammatically both options are correct.