Learn Hardcore Russian: Мне не хочется идти в кино‑клуб сегодня вечером. - I don’t feel like going to the film club this evening.

Because (мне) хочется is an impersonal construction: literally something like “it is wanted to me / I feel like …”.
So the person who experiences the desire is put in the dative case:

Мне хочется… = I feel like…
Ему хочется… = He feels like…
Нам хочется… = We feel like…

This is different from a normal personal verb like я хочу (I want), which uses the nominative я.

What exactly is хочется—is it the same as хочу?

They’re related but not the same.

хочу = I want (direct, intentional, more “decided”)
хочется = I feel like / I have an urge to (more about mood, less deliberate)

So Мне не хочется идти… often sounds like “I don’t feel like going…” rather than a firm “I don’t want to go.”

Why is there не before хочется, not before идти?

In Russian you normally negate the main predicate of the sentence. Here the main predicate is (мне) хочется (“I feel like”), so you negate that:

Мне не хочется идти… = I don’t feel like going…

You can negate the infinitive too, but that changes the meaning:

Мне хочется не идти… = I feel like not going (i.e., I actively prefer not to go)

Why is идти used here, not пойти?

After хочется you commonly use an infinitive; both aspects can appear, but they carry different shades:

идти (imperfective) = more general “to go (on foot) / to be going” as an activity
пойти (perfective) = “to go (set off)” with a clearer sense of starting a one-time trip

In practice, Мне не хочется идти… is very natural for “I don’t feel like going…”. Мне не хочется пойти… is possible but usually sounds more specific about “setting off.”

Does идти literally mean “to walk”? What if I’m going by car/bus?

Yes, идти literally means “to go on foot,” but in everyday speech it can be used more loosely in contexts like “going to a place,” especially when the mode of transport isn’t the focus.

If you want to avoid “walking” and be neutral, you can use:

ехать = to go by vehicle
Мне не хочется ехать в кино‑клуб… = I don’t feel like going (by transport) to the cinema club…

Or a more general option:

Мне не хочется идти/ехать… (covering both possibilities)

Why is it в кино‑клуб—what case is кино‑клуб in?

After в meaning “to / into” (motion toward a place), Russian uses the accusative case.

Here кино‑клуб is an inanimate masculine noun, and its accusative is the same as nominative:

(куда?) в кино‑клуб = to the cinema club

If it were “in the cinema club” (location, not motion), it would be:

(где?) в кино‑клубе (prepositional)

Why is кино‑клуб written with a hyphen?

It’s a compound noun formed from кино + клуб. Many such compounds in Russian are written with a hyphen, especially when the first part is a shortened or “prefix-like” element (like кино-, видео-, интернет- in some compounds).

You’ll also see variation in real life (some compounds become solid over time), but кино‑клуб with a hyphen is standard/very common.

Is the word order fixed? Could I move сегодня вечером?

It’s flexible. Russian word order changes emphasis more than basic grammar.

All of these are possible:

Мне не хочется идти в кино‑клуб сегодня вечером. (neutral)
Сегодня вечером мне не хочется идти в кино‑клуб. (emphasizes “tonight”)
Мне сегодня вечером не хочется идти в кино‑клуб. (also emphasizes the time)

Why does it say сегодня вечером and not сегодня вечером with some preposition like “in”?

Russian often expresses time without a preposition using the instrumental case for “at (a time/part of day)”:

утром, днём, вечером, ночью (instrumental forms used adverbially)

So сегодня вечером is literally “today, (in the) evening,” but Russian doesn’t need a separate word like “in/at” here.

Could I drop сегодня and just say вечером?

Yes.

Мне не хочется идти в кино‑клуб вечером. = I don’t feel like going to the cinema club in the evening / evenings (more general)
… сегодня вечером = specifically tonight

So сегодня makes it specific to “this evening.”

How is Мне не хочется… different in tone from Я не хочу…?

Я не хочу идти… can sound more firm, direct, even a bit blunt depending on context (“I don’t want to”).
Мне не хочется идти… sounds more like mood/energy (“I don’t feel like it”), often softer and more casual.

Both are correct; мне не хочется is very common for polite, everyday refusal.

Is не хочется ever used without мне?

Yes, if the person is clear from context, Russians may omit мне:

Не хочется идти в кино‑клуб сегодня вечером. = Don’t feel like going to the cinema club tonight.

But including мне is also perfectly normal and often clearer.