После работы мне хочется выйти на балкон и немного подышать.

Because после requires the genitive case.

• работа = work
• работы = of work / after work

So:

• после работы = after work

This is a very common pattern in Russian:

• после урока = after the lesson
• после обеда = after lunch
• после фильма = after the movie

So the learner should remember: после + genitive.

Хочется is part of an impersonal construction, and the person who feels the desire is put in the dative case.

So:

• мне хочется = I feel like / I want to
• literally something like to me it is wanted

That is why you see:

• мне = to me
• тебе = to you
• ему/ей = to him/her

Examples:

• Мне хочется спать. = I feel sleepy / I want to sleep.
• Ей хочется домой. = She feels like going home.

If you say я хочу, that is also correct Russian, but it is a more direct I want.
Мне хочется often sounds a bit softer, more like I feel like.

Both can often be translated as I want, but they are not exactly the same.

• я хочу = direct, clear desire
• мне хочется = I feel like, I have the urge to, it sounds softer or more emotional

In this sentence:

• После работы мне хочется выйти на балкон...

the speaker is expressing a natural feeling or impulse after work, not a strong demand or decision.

Compare:

• Я хочу выйти на балкон. = I want to go out onto the balcony.
• Мне хочется выйти на балкон. = I feel like going out onto the balcony.

So хочется is very natural here.

Because выйти is the perfective infinitive, and here it suggests a single completed action: stepping out onto the balcony once.

• выйти = to go out, to step out
• выходить = to go out regularly, to be going out, or repeated/process meaning

After хочется, both aspects can appear, but they mean slightly different things.

Here:

• хочется выйти на балкон = I feel like going out onto the balcony once

If you used выходить, it would sound less natural in this context unless you meant repeated/habitual action.

So the sentence is about one specific action after work:

1. go out onto the balcony
2. breathe a bit

Russian uses different prepositions depending on how a place is conceptualized.

With балкон, Russian normally uses:

• на балкон = onto the balcony
• на балконе = on the balcony

This is just the standard Russian pattern. A balcony is treated like a kind of surface/platform area, so на is used, not в.

Compare:

• в комнату = into the room
• на балкон = onto the balcony

So:

• выйти на балкон = to go out onto the balcony

This is the normal expression.

Подышать is a perfective verb formed from дышать with the prefix по-. In this context it often means to breathe for a little while.

• дышать = to breathe
• подышать = to breathe a bit / to have a little breathing time

This fits very naturally with немного:

• немного подышать = to breathe a little / get some air for a bit

Russian often uses по- with verbs to give the sense of doing something for a short time:

• посидеть = sit for a while
• погулять = take a walk for a bit
• почитать = read for a while

So подышать here suggests not the general ability to breathe, but a short, refreshing action.

Yes, they overlap somewhat, but together they sound very natural.

• подышать already suggests to breathe for a bit
• немного explicitly adds a little

So:

• немного подышать = breathe a little / get a bit of air

This kind of doubling is common in Russian and does not sound strange. It makes the idea feel gentle and natural.

Similar examples:

• немного отдохнуть = rest a little
• немного посидеть = sit for a bit

So even though подышать already has a short-duration feel, немного reinforces it.

More specifically, it means to go out onto the balcony or to step out onto the balcony.

The verb выйти contains the idea of coming/going out from somewhere. So the image is:

• you are inside
• then you step out onto the balcony

That is why выйти на балкон is more vivid than just a neutral go to the balcony.

Because both depend on хочется.

The structure is:

• мне хочется
  • infinitive + и
    • infinitive

So:

• мне хочется выйти на балкон и немного подышать
• I feel like going out onto the balcony and breathing a little

This is completely normal in Russian. One verb of desire can govern several infinitives:

• Мне хочется поесть и отдохнуть. = I feel like eating and resting.
• Ему хочется лечь и поспать. = He feels like lying down and sleeping.

Yes, the sentence could be rearranged, because Russian word order is fairly flexible.

The original:

• После работы мне хочется выйти на балкон и немного подышать.

This is very natural and neutral. It starts with the time expression after work, which sets the scene first.

You could also say:

• Мне хочется после работы выйти на балкон и немного подышать.

This is also grammatical, but the emphasis shifts slightly.

In the original sentence, после работы is highlighted as the context: after work, this is what I feel like doing.

Работы here is the genitive singular form of работа.

The noun is feminine, and its basic form is:

• работа

Its genitive singular is:

• работы

It appears here because of the preposition после.

So:

• после работы = after work

A learner may notice that работы can also be other forms in other contexts, but here it is definitely genitive singular.

Not really. The natural meaning is:

• After work, I feel like stepping out onto the balcony and getting a bit of air.

A few details make that clear:

• после работы usually means after work / after finishing work
• выйти на балкон means step out onto the balcony
• подышать in this context suggests get some air, not just the biological act of breathing

So the sentence sounds like a very natural everyday Russian way of saying that after work, the speaker wants a little fresh air on the balcony.

Yes, very close.

Literally, подышать means to breathe for a bit, but in many contexts like this it strongly suggests:

• get some air
• take a breather
• get a bit of fresh air

So the whole phrase:

• выйти на балкон и немного подышать

is something a Russian speaker would naturally say when they mean stepping out for some air and a short refresh.

It does not have to explicitly mention fresh air for that idea to be understood.