По вечерам мне иногда хочется кефира, а не чая.

In the evenings I sometimes feel like kefir instead of tea.

Breakdown of По вечерам мне иногда хочется кефира, а не чая.

• я: I
• вечер: the evening
• чай: the tea
• иногда: sometimes

Questions & Answers about По вечерам мне иногда хочется кефира, а не чая.

What does по вечерам mean here?

It means in the evenings or in the evening time, as a habit.

The important idea is repetition: not one specific evening, but evenings in general. So по вечерам is closer to in the evenings than to this evening.

Why is it вечерам and not вечера or вечеры?

Because the preposition по often takes the dative case when it talks about repeated times.

So:

• вечер = evening
• вечерам = dative plural, after по

This pattern is very common:

• по утрам = in the mornings
• по вечерам = in the evenings
• по ночам = at night / during nights
• по выходным = on weekends

How is по вечерам different from вечером or вечерами?