Learn Hardcore Russian: Когда супруг поздно приходит с работы, жена всё равно готовит для него лёгкий ужин. - When the husband comes home late from work, the wife still cooks a light dinner for him.

Когда introduces a time clause: it tells you when something happens.
In the present tense like this, когда usually means a repeated, typical situation:
- Когда он устает, он рано ложится спать. – When(ever) he gets tired, he goes to bed early.

You can sometimes use если (“if”) in similar sentences, but the nuance changes:

Когда супруг поздно приходит с работы…
= Whenever the husband comes home late from work… (this is his usual pattern)
Если супруг поздно приходит с работы…
= If the husband comes home late from work… (presents it more as a condition, not necessarily a regular habit)

So когда is more natural here because we’re talking about a typical, repeated situation, not just a conditional “if”.

What is the difference between супруг and муж?

Both mean husband, but they differ in style and usage:

муж – the normal, everyday word for “husband.”
- Это мой муж. – This is my husband.
супруг – more formal, official, or slightly bookish.
- Often seen in documents, formal speech, or slightly elevated style:
  - Ваш супруг уже прибыл? – Has your spouse (husband) already arrived?

There is also a feminine form:

супруга – wife in the same formal style.
In everyday speech, people usually say жена for “wife” and муж for “husband.”

In this sentence, супруг + жена creates a slightly “neutral–formal” tone rather than very casual speech.

Why don’t we say её супруг or свой супруг / своя жена? How do we know they are husband and wife to each other?

Russian often omits possessive words like мой, твой, её, его, свой when the relationship is clear from context.

Here we have супруг and жена in one short sentence. In Russian, it is naturally understood that:

супруг refers to her husband,
жена refers to his wife.

Adding possessives would sound heavier and often unnecessary:

Когда её супруг поздно приходит с работы, его жена всё равно готовит для него лёгкий ужин.
– Grammatically OK, but wordy and unnatural unless you need to contrast whose husband/wife.

So Russian tends to omit obvious possessives, especially with close family words (мама, папа, муж, жена, дочь, сын etc.) where the owner is contextually clear.

Why is the adverb before the verb (поздно приходит) and not приходит поздно? Is there a difference?

Both orders are grammatically correct:

супруг поздно приходит с работы
супруг приходит поздно с работы

The difference is mostly in rhythm and slight emphasis, not in basic meaning.

General tendencies:

Russian word order is flexible. Adverbs like поздно can appear either before or after the verb.
поздно приходит slightly highlights the lateness right before the action of coming:
- Literally: “the husband late comes from work”
приходит поздно is also possible; in many contexts they sound almost identical.

In spoken language, поздно приходит с работы is a very natural, common pattern. Here the sentence just uses a typical, smooth rhythm; there is no strong contrast intended.

Why is it приходит с работы and not something like из работы or от работы? How does с work here?

The phrase с работы literally means “from (off) work”, and it is the standard idiomatic way to say “(coming) from work” in Russian.

с + Genitive is used in many “from a surface / from an event / from an activity” expressions:
- с работы – from work
- с урока – from (a) lesson/class
- с концерта – from a concert
- с дачи – from the dacha

Alternatives:

из работы – is not used with this meaning. Из
- Genitive is for “from the inside of a place” (из дома, из школы), but работа is treated more like an activity/place of employment, and the fixed phrase is с работы.
от работы exists but means something different, like “because of work / due to work”:
- Он устал от работы. – He is tired from work (because of work).

So приходит с работы is the correct everyday expression for “comes (home) from work.”
Notice that Russian doesn’t need to say домой (“home”) here; it’s understood from context.

In English we would say “comes home from work.” Why is there no word for “home” here?

Russian often omits “home” when it is obvious from context that a person is returning from work to their home.

Он приходит с работы.
– Literally: “He comes from work.”
– Naturally understood as “He comes home from work.”

You can say Он приходит домой с работы, but:

It sounds a bit longer and is usually used only if you need to contrast destinations or be very explicit.
In a normal context, с работы alone is enough; most Russians automatically imagine “to home” as the destination.

So the sentence is natural and complete without домой.

Why is the verb приходит (imperfective present) used instead of придёт (perfective future) here?

Aspect and tense are doing two different jobs here:

Present tense in Russian is often used for regular, repeated actions (like English present simple).
Imperfective aspect (here: приходит) is used for:
- habitual actions,
- processes, not focusing on the end result.

So:

Когда супруг поздно приходит с работы…
– When(ever) the husband comes home late from work…
– Describes a typical, repeated situation, not a single future event.

If you say:

Когда супруг поздно придёт с работы, жена…
this sounds like one specific future occasion:
When the husband (on that particular time) comes home late from work, the wife will…

In our sentence the idea is a general rule about their life, so the imperfective present (приходит) is correct and natural.

Why is готовит (imperfective) used, and not приготовит (perfective)?

Same aspect logic as above:

готовить (imperfective) – to cook/prepare (habitually, in progress, generally).
приготовить (perfective) – to cook/prepare to completion, a single finished act.

Here we describe what the wife typically does whenever he is late:

жена всё равно готовит для него лёгкий ужин
– the wife still prepares a light dinner for him (whenever that situation happens).

That is a repeated, habitual action, so the imperfective готовит is used.

If you said приготовит, you’d be focusing on one completed action in the future:

Когда супруг поздно придёт с работы, жена всё равно приготовит для него лёгкий ужин.
– When (on that specific occasion) the husband comes home late from work, the wife will (successfully) prepare a light dinner for him.

What exactly does всё равно mean here? Is it like “still” or “anyway”?

всё равно means something like “anyway / still / regardless / no matter what.”

In this sentence:

жена всё равно готовит для него лёгкий ужин
= the wife still prepares a light dinner for him
= she prepares it *anyway, even though he comes home late.*

Nuance:

It shows that the action does not depend on the previous clause.
Despite the “negative” or inconvenient condition (he comes home late), the wife’s behavior does not change.

Don’t confuse:

всё равно – regardless, anyway
ещё – still, yet (simple time continuation)
всё ещё – still (and it hasn’t changed yet)

Here всё равно is the natural choice because it expresses “even so, she does it.”

Why is it для него and not ему? What is the difference between готовить для кого and готовить кому?

Both structures exist:

готовить кому (+ Dative)
готовить для кого (+ Genitive after для)

They overlap in meaning (“to cook for someone”), but there are nuances:

готовить кому ужин
- Very common, colloquial and direct:
  - Она готовит мужу ужин. – She is cooking dinner for her husband.
- Stresses who receives the food.
готовить для него ужин
- Slightly more neutral/formal; can emphasize purpose:
  - “to prepare a dinner intended for him.”
- Can sound a bit more detached or matter‑of‑fact.

In this sentence, для него:

fits the somewhat neutral–formal feel (супруг, not муж),
slightly emphasizes that the dinner is specifically meant for him.

You could also say:

…жена всё равно готовит ему лёгкий ужин.

This would be absolutely natural and maybe even more colloquial.

What does лёгкий ужин mean exactly? Is лёгкий “light” or “easy”? And why this form of the adjective?

лёгкий ужин here means “light dinner” (not heavy, not too much food), not “easy dinner.”

The adjective лёгкий can mean:

light (in weight or in calories/amount):
- лёгкая сумка – a light bag
- лёгкий завтрак – a light breakfast
easy (not difficult):
- лёгкий экзамен – an easy exam

With food (лёгкий ужин, лёгкий завтрак), it usually means not heavy, easy to digest, small portion.

Form and agreement:

ужин is masculine singular, nominative.
The adjective must match in gender, number, and case:
- Masculine singular nominative of лёгкий is лёгкий.
So лёгкий ужин is the correct agreed form.

Why is there a comma in Когда супруг поздно приходит с работы, жена всё равно готовит…?

Russian uses commas to separate subordinate clauses from the main clause.

Structure:

Когда супруг поздно приходит с работы, – subordinate time clause introduced by когда.
жена всё равно готовит для него лёгкий ужин. – main clause.

Rule (simplified):

When a clause started by когда, если, потому что, когда бы ни etc. comes before or after the main clause, it is separated by a comma.

So here the comma is obligatory and marks the boundary:

[Когда супруг поздно приходит с работы], [жена всё равно готовит для него лёгкий ужин].