После урока я хочу немного поработать дома и проверить свою концентрацию.

Breakdown of После урока я хочу немного поработать дома и проверить свою концентрацию.

я
I
и
and
дома
at home
хотеть
to want
после
after
свой
my
урок
the lesson
проверить
to check
немного
a little
концентрация
the concentration
поработать
to work for a while
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Questions & Answers about После урока я хочу немного поработать дома и проверить свою концентрацию.

Why is it После урока and not После урок? What case is урока?

The preposition после (after) always takes the genitive case.

  • урок – nominative (dictionary form)
  • урока – genitive singular

So:

  • После урок – ungrammatical
  • После урока – correct: after the lesson / after class

Other examples with после + genitive:

  • после работы – after work
  • после обеда – after lunch
  • после школы – after school

Why is it singular урока? In English we might say “after class” or “after classes”; how would that work in Russian?

In this sentence После урока naturally means after the (next / this) lesson.

If you want to speak about something you usually do after lessons in general, Russians often still use the singular with a general meaning:

  • После урока я всегда иду домой. – After class I always go home.

But you can also use the plural if you truly mean after all lessons are finished:

  • После уроков я хочу немного поработать дома. – After (my) lessons are over I want to work a bit at home.

So:

  • урока (sg.) – after a/the lesson; often also used in a generic way
  • уроков (pl.) – after all the lessons (e.g., after the school day)

Can I say после занятия or после школы instead of после урока? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can, but the nuance changes slightly:

  • после урока – after the lesson (a particular class, e.g. your Russian lesson)
  • после занятия – after the class / session (more neutral, used for courses, trainings, uni seminars)
  • после школы – after school (after the school day is finished, or after you finish attending school in general, depending on context)

In your sentence:

  • После урока я хочу… – most natural if you mean “after my (this) lesson today”.
  • После занятия я хочу… – fine if you mean “after the class (e.g., the course session)”.
  • После школы я хочу… – usually understood as “after school is over (for the day)” or even “after I finish school (in life)”, so the time frame feels broader.

Why is it поработать and not just работать? What does the prefix по- do here?

Поработать is the perfective verb with the prefix по-; работать is imperfective.

Here по- usually adds the meaning “for a while / a bit”:

  • поработать – to work a bit / to do some work for a while (with focus on the result being completed)
  • работать – to work (in general, process, no focus on endpoint)

So:

  • Я хочу немного поработать. – I want to work a bit / for a short time.
  • Я хочу работать дома. – I want to work at home (generally, as a regular thing or job).

In your sentence, поработать matches немного and makes it sound like: “After the lesson, I’d like to do some work at home for a while.”


Is немного поработать the only correct order? Can I say поработать немного or move немного somewhere else?

You can move немного; Russian word order is flexible, but the nuance and emphasis change slightly.

All of these are grammatically correct:

  1. Я хочу немного поработать дома.
    – Neutral: I want to work a bit at home.

  2. Я хочу поработать немного дома.
    – Very similar; немного leans a bit more toward “for a short time”.

  3. Я хочу дома немного поработать.
    – Emphasizes дома (“at home”), then “a bit of work”.

  4. Я немного хочу поработать дома.
    – Less common / more stylistic; can suggest “I only slightly want to work at home” (weak desire) rather than “I want to work a little”.

Most natural: немного поработать дома or поработать немного дома.


Why is it дома and not в доме, у дома, or домой? What’s the difference?

These forms all come from дом, but they mean different things:

  • домаat home (location, “where?”)

    • Я хочу поработать дома. – I want to work at home.
  • в домеin the house/building (inside a particular house, not necessarily your home)

    • Я работаю в этом доме. – I work in this building / house.
  • у домаnear the house / by the house (outside, nearby)

    • Мы встретимся у дома. – We’ll meet near the house.
  • домойhome, homeward (direction, “where to?”)

    • Я иду домой. – I’m going home.

In your sentence you mean “to work at home”, so дома is the correct choice.


Why is there no preposition before дома? What case is it?

Дома is a special adverbial form of дом, often treated as a “second locative” or adverb, meaning at home. It doesn’t need a preposition.

Compare:

  • дома – at home (no preposition)
  • в доме – in the house (preposition + prepositional case)

So Russians say:

  • Я сейчас дома. – I am at home.
  • Он работает дома. – He works at home.

No preposition is used with дома.


Can I leave out the я and say После урока хочу немного поработать дома…?

Yes, that’s grammatically correct and quite natural in Russian.

  • После урока я хочу немного поработать дома… – neutral, explicit subject.
  • После урока хочу немного поработать дома… – sounds slightly more informal or stylistic, often used in speech, diaries, notes.

Russian can sometimes omit the subject pronoun when it’s clear from the verb ending who the subject is. Хочу clearly shows 1st person singular (I want), so я is optional here.


Why is проверить used (perfective) and not проверять? What’s the difference here?

Again, this is about aspect:

  • проверить – perfective: to check once / to test and get a result.
  • проверять – imperfective: to be checking / to check repeatedly or as a process.

In your sentence:

  • …и проверить свою концентрацию.
    – You want to test your concentration once and see the result.

If you said:

  • …и проверять свою концентрацию.

it would sound like you want to be in the process of checking your concentration (e.g., regularly), which is less natural here.

So perfective проверить fits best because you have a specific, single act of checking in mind.


Why is it свою концентрацию and not мою концентрацию? When should I use свой?

Свой is a reflexive possessive pronoun. It usually means “one’s own” and refers back to the subject of the sentence.

General rule:
If the possessor is the subject (я, ты, он, она, мы, вы, они), Russians prefer свой instead of мой/твой/его/её/наш/ваш/их, unless there is a specific contrast.

So here:

  • Subject: я
  • Possessor of концентрация: also я

Therefore, the natural choice is:

  • проверить свою концентрацию – check my own concentration.

Мою концентрацию is not wrong, but it’s less neutral and might sound like you’re contrasting it with someone else’s:
“check my concentration (as opposed to yours/their concentration)”.

Use свой whenever you simply mean “one’s own something” and the owner = subject.


Why is свою in that exact form? How does it agree with концентрацию?

Свой declines like a normal possessive adjective (мой, твой, etc.) and must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies.

  • концентрацию is:
    • feminine
    • singular
    • accusative (direct object of проверить)

So свой must also be:

  • feminine, singular, accusative: свою

Patterns (feminine singular):

  • Nominative: своя
  • Accusative: свою

Thus:

  • проверить свою концентрацию – correct agreement.

Why is концентрацию in the accusative case? Could I say just проверить концентрацию without свою?

Yes, you can say:

  • проверить концентрациюto check (the) concentration.

Концентрацию is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb проверить (“check what?”).

Structure:

  • проверить (что?) концентрацию – accusative object.
  • свою is just an agreeing possessive: свою (чью?) концентрацию.

So both are correct grammatically:

  • проверить концентрацию – check concentration.
  • проверить свою концентрацию – check my own concentration (more specific).

Can I change the word order in the whole sentence? For example: После урока я хочу дома немного поработать и проверить свою концентрацию?

Yes, Russian word order is quite flexible, and your variant is correct:

  • После урока я хочу дома немного поработать и проверить свою концентрацию.

This version:

  • slightly emphasizes дома (at home) by moving it earlier;
  • is still natural and clear.

Other acceptable variations (all correct, with subtle differences in emphasis):

  • После урока я хочу немного поработать дома и проверить свою концентрацию. (original, neutral)
  • После урока я хочу немного дома поработать и проверить свою концентрацию. (emphasis on work at home)
  • После урока хочу немного поработать дома и проверить свою концентрацию. (without я, a bit more informal / flowing)

In Russian, changing word order usually doesn’t change basic meaning, but it does affect what is emphasized or what feels more neutral or more stylistic.