Learn Hardcore Russian: Иногда я хочу просто послушать музыку и ничего не делать. - Sometimes I just want to listen to some music for a while and do nothing.

слушать – imperfective: “to listen” as a process or in general (to be listening).
послушать – perfective: “to listen (for a while / once / as a complete action).”

In я хочу просто послушать музыку, the perfective послушать suggests “I want to have a listening session / listen for some time, as a single complete action,” which fits very well with the idea of relaxing and doing nothing else.

You could say я хочу просто слушать музыку, but that sounds more like “I want to be (in the state of) listening to music,” focusing on the ongoing process rather than a bounded activity. Both are grammatically correct, but послушать музыку is more natural in this context.

Why is музыку and not музыка?

Музыка is a feminine noun:

Nominative (dictionary form): музыка – “music” (as subject)
Accusative (direct object): музыку

In the sentence, music is what you want to listen to, i.e. it is the direct object of послушать:

(Послушать) что? – музыку.

So музыку is simply музыка in the accusative case, required after a transitive verb like слушать / послушать.

What does ничего не делать literally mean, and why are there “two negatives”?

Word by word:

ничего – “nothing / anything” (in negative sentences)
не – “not”
делать – “to do”

Literally: ничего не делать = “to not do anything.”

Russian uses negative concord: if you use a negative pronoun like ничего, you normally also use не with the verb:

ничего не делать – not do anything
никто не приходит – nobody comes (lit. nobody not comes)
никогда не курю – I never smoke (lit. never not smoke)

These are not considered “double negatives” in Russian; they form one unified negative meaning.
Just ничего делать without не would be wrong.

Why is it ничего не делать (infinitive) and not ничего не делаю?

Because both actions depend on хочу:

я хочу (что сделать?) послушать музыку
(я хочу) (что сделать?) ничего не делать

So the structure is:

я хочу [послушать музыку] и [ничего не делать]

Both послушать and делать are infinitives that answer что сделать? / что делать? after хочу (“I want to do what?”).

If you said:

Иногда я хочу просто послушать музыку и ничего не делаю.

this would sound off or incomplete, because the second part (ничего не делаю) is now a finite verb (present tense) and no longer grammatically dependent on хочу. It would be interpreted more like:

“Sometimes I want to just listen to music, and (as a fact right now) I’m not doing anything.”

In your original sentence, both are things you want to do (or not do), so both stay in the infinitive.

Why is делать (imperfective) used, not сделать?

Again, this is about aspect:

делать – imperfective: to do (in general / as a process)
сделать – perfective: to do something and finish it (to complete it)

In ничего не делать, the idea is “to be not doing anything”, i.e. the absence of activity as a state or process. You are not talking about failing to complete some specific task; you’re talking about ongoing inactivity, so the imperfective делать is correct.

ничего не сделать would mean “to not do anything” in the sense of “to end up having done nothing / to fail to do anything (by some deadline)” – that’s a very different nuance.

What does иногда mean, and where can it go in the sentence?

Иногда means “sometimes.” It’s an adverb of frequency.

In your sentence, it’s at the beginning:

Иногда я хочу просто послушать музыку… – “Sometimes I want to just listen to music…”

This position is very natural; it sets the “sometimes” frame for the whole sentence.

You can also see:

Я иногда хочу просто послушать музыку…

This is also correct and common. The difference in nuance is small:

Иногда я хочу… – slightly more emphasis on “There are times when I want…”
Я иногда хочу… – slightly more emphasis on I, with “sometimes” tucked inside the sentence.

Putting иногда at the very end (…и ничего не делать иногда) would sound unusual and marked; normally it goes before the verb or at the very start.

What exactly does просто mean here?

Просто can mean:

“simply” / “just” in the sense of not complicated, nothing more than that
“simply” as in “plainly, in a simple way”
In some contexts, “really / totally” as an intensifier (e.g. это просто ужас – “it’s just terrible”).

Here it’s sense (1): “just / simply.”

я хочу просто послушать музыку = “I just want to listen to music (nothing more, nothing special).”

It de‑dramatises or downplays the desire: “I don’t want anything grand; I just want to listen to some music.”

Could просто be in a different place, like я просто хочу послушать музыку? Is that different?

Yes, and the word order slightly shifts the focus.

Я просто хочу послушать музыку…
– Emphasis on “just want”
– Implication: “I only want this, nothing more; why is this such a problem?”
– Often used defensively or to downplay your wish.
Я хочу просто послушать музыку…
– Emphasis on “just listen to music”
– Implication: “What I want to do is just listen (not work, not talk, not think, etc.).”

Your original sentence:

Иногда я хочу просто послушать музыку и ничего не делать.

focuses on the kind of activity you want: “just to listen to music and not do anything.” Both word orders are grammatically correct; the choice is about nuance.

What is the role of и in послушать музыку и ничего не делать?

И is the coordinating conjunction “and.”

It links two infinitive phrases that both depend on хочу:

(я хочу) послушать музыку
(я хочу) ничего не делать

So the structure is:

я хочу [послушать музыку] и [ничего не делать].

Both are parts of what you want to do. This is similar to English:

“I want to listen to music and do nothing.”

Could you drop я and just say Иногда хочу просто послушать музыку…?

Yes, in many contexts you can omit я because the verb form хочу already shows the 1st person singular.

Иногда хочу просто послушать музыку и ничего не делать.

This is grammatically correct and quite natural in informal speech or writing, especially if it’s clear who is speaking. Omitting the pronoun can sound a bit more casual or slightly more “stream‑of‑consciousness.”

However, including я is the most neutral and clear form; for learners, it’s usually better to keep it:

Иногда я хочу просто послушать музыку…

How is ничего different from нечто or что‑нибудь?

In practice, with делать in everyday speech, you almost always get ничего не делать for “do nothing.”

Roughly:

ничего – “nothing / anything (in negative sentences)”
- ничего не делать – not do anything / do nothing
что‑нибудь – “something / anything (in questions or uncertain, casual sense)”
- делать что‑нибудь – to be doing something or other
нечто – “something” in a formal / literary or slightly mysterious sense
- делать нечто странное – to be doing something strange (sounds bookish)

So ничего не делать is the standard, natural way to say “to do nothing / to not be doing anything.”
You would not say нечто не делать here.

Is there any difference between “I sometimes want…” in English and Иногда я хочу… in Russian in terms of meaning?

They are very close, but note:

Иногда я хочу…: The adverb иногда modifies the whole event: “There are times when I want…”
English “Sometimes I want…” does the same.

What you cannot do in Russian is express something like “I kind of sometimes want” by moving иногда around inside хочу; иногда always stays as a separate adverb.

So yes, Иногда я хочу просто послушать музыку и ничего не делать corresponds very naturally to “Sometimes I just want to listen to music and do nothing.” The frequency nuance is basically the same.