Learn Hardcore Russian: Когда я делаю паузу в работе, моё любимое хобби — смотреть старые записи наших встреч. - When I take a break from work, my favorite hobby is to watch old recordings of our meetings.

делать паузу = to pause; to take a pause
делать перерыв = to take a break (a bit more standard for breaks in work/study)
брать паузу is used too, but more often in figurative contexts (e.g. relationships, projects: “take some time off from something”).

All three can be understood here. The author just chose делаю паузу, which sounds natural and a bit more literal (“I make a pause”). For a work context, делаю перерыв в работе is probably the most common phrase, but делаю паузу в работе is fine and idiomatic.

What does в работе mean here, and why not от работы or на работе?

These three preposition phrases are different:

в работе — literally “in (the process of) work”.
- делаю паузу в работе ≈ I take a pause in my work / in working.
от работы — usually “from work” in the sense of away from / because of work:
- устал от работы – tired from work.
на работе — at work (location, workplace):
- я сейчас на работе – I’m at work right now.

So делаю паузу в работе focuses on interrupting the activity of working, not on the physical place or on being tired from work.

Why is there a dash in моё любимое хобби — смотреть...? Could we use это instead?

In Russian, there’s often no verb “to be” in the present tense. Instead of saying:

моё любимое хобби есть смотреть… (grammatically strange today),

Russian normally uses:

моё любимое хобби — смотреть…
моё любимое хобби — это смотреть…

Both with a dash are correct. The dash marks the link between the subject (моё любимое хобби) and the “predicate” (смотреть…).

Nuance:

моё любимое хобби — смотреть… sounds slightly more concise and neutral.
моё любимое хобби — это смотреть… adds a small emphasis, like “my favorite hobby is actually watching…”.

In many contexts, they’re interchangeable.

Why use the infinitive смотреть here, instead of a noun like просмотр?

Russian often uses the infinitive as a noun-like expression for activities:

моё хобби — читать – my hobby is reading
его мечта — путешествовать – his dream is to travel

So:

моё любимое хобби — смотреть старые записи…
literally: “my favorite hobby is to watch old recordings…”

A noun like просмотр is possible, but sounds more formal/technical:

моё любимое хобби — просмотр старых записей – stylistically heavier.

For everyday speech about hobbies, the infinitive смотреть is the natural choice.

Why is it моё любимое хобби, not мой любимый хобби?

The noun хобби in Russian:

is indeclinable (doesn’t change form),
is treated as neuter gender.

So adjectives and pronouns must agree in neuter singular:

моё (neuter)
любимое (neuter)

Hence: моё любимое хобби.

Using мой любимый хобби would be grammatically wrong because мой/любимый are masculine forms.

Could we change the word order and say моё хобби любимое — смотреть…?

You can change the word order, but it changes the feel:

моё любимое хобби — смотреть…
Neutral, standard: “my favorite hobby is watching…”
моё хобби любимое — смотреть…
Possible, but unusual; sounds poetic or specially emphasized.
хобби моё любимое — смотреть…
Also possible in a more emotional/expressive style, e.g. in speech with extra emphasis.

The normal, most natural order for everyday speech is моё любимое хобби — … (adjectives before the noun).

What cases are used in смотреть старые записи наших встреч?

Breakdown:

смотреть (что?) старые записи
- записи is the direct object of смотреть, so it’s in accusative plural.
- For a feminine noun like запись (singular), nominative plural is записи, and accusative plural is the same form: записи.
записи (чего?) наших встреч
- This is a dependent noun phrase in the genitive plural: наших встреч.
- It answers “recordings of what?” → “of our meetings”.

So:

старые – accusative plural feminine (agreeing with записи)
записи – accusative plural feminine
наших – genitive plural (agreeing with встреч)
встреч – genitive plural

Why is it наших встреч, not наши встречи?

The structure is:

старые записи (чего?) наших встреч = old recordings of our meetings.

Here наших встреч depends on записи and answers “of what?”, so it must be in the genitive.

If you said смотреть наши встречи, it would mean:

to watch our meetings (the meetings themselves)

That’s a different structure: смотреть (что?) наши встречи, with наши встречи in accusative (same form as nominative).

So:

записи наших встреч – recordings of our meetings.
наши встречи – our meetings as direct objects.

Why does встреч have no ending in the plural genitive? Shouldn’t it be something like встречей?

Встреча (meeting) is a first-declension feminine noun:

Nom. sg.: встреча
Gen. sg.: встречи
Nom. pl.: встречи
Gen. pl.: встреч

The genitive plural of many feminine nouns ending in -а / -я is a zero ending (no extra ending):

книга → книг
неделя → недель
встреча → встреч

So встреч is the correct genitive plural form. встречей is genitive plural only for some other declension patterns; for встреча it would be wrong.

Does записи here mean videos, audio recordings, or written notes?

The noun запись is broad and can mean:

an audio recording,
a video recording,
an entry/notation in a notebook, diary, list, etc.

In this sentence, with наших встреч, the most natural interpretation is:

audio or video recordings of meetings (e.g. Zoom calls, lectures, conversations).

If someone meant written notes, they would often clarify:

смотреть старые письменные записи наших встреч
перечитывать записи наших встреч (re-read the notes of our meetings).

Why is it когда я делаю паузу, not когда я сделаю паузу?

This is about aspect and habitual actions:

делаю – imperfective, present tense, used for:
- repeated, habitual actions,
- ongoing processes.
сделаю – perfective, future meaning: when I (will have) taken a pause (one specific time).

The sentence describes a general habit:

Когда я делаю паузу в работе, моё любимое хобби — …
= Whenever I take a break from work, my favorite hobby is…

So the imperfective делаю is correct. Using сделаю would sound like talking about a one-time future situation, which doesn’t fit the idea of a general preference.

Why is there a comma after Когда я делаю паузу в работе and then a dash later?

There are two separate punctuation rules here:

Comma after the clause with “когда”
- Когда я делаю паузу в работе, – this is a subordinate clause (a time clause).
- In Russian, a subordinate clause is normally separated from the main clause by a comma.
Dash between subject and predicate
- моё любимое хобби — смотреть старые записи…
- When both parts are expressed by noun-like phrases (here: a noun phrase + infinitive phrase) and there is no verb to be, a dash is usually placed between them.

So the comma closes the time clause; the dash connects the subject and the predicate in the main clause.