Зимой мы часто пьём горячий чай дома.

Зимой is the instrumental singular form of зима (winter).

Russian often uses the instrumental case with seasons to mean during that season / in that season:

• зимой = in winter
• весной = in spring
• летом = in summer
• осенью = in autumn

So in this sentence, зимой works like an adverb of time: in winter.

With seasons, Russian usually does not use a preposition in this kind of expression. The instrumental form by itself is the normal way to say in winter, in spring, etc.

So:

• зимой = in winter
• not normally в зиме

A learner may expect a direct equivalent of English in, but Russian expresses this idea differently here.

Пьём is the 1st person plural present tense form of the verb пить (to drink).

So:

• пить = to drink
• мы пьём = we drink / we are drinking

In this sentence, because of часто (often), it means a habitual action:
we often drink.

Some other forms of пить are:

• я пью = I drink
• ты пьёшь = you drink
• он/она пьёт = he/she drinks
• мы пьём = we drink
• вы пьёте = you drink
• они пьют = they drink

Yes. In Russian, ё is often written as е in ordinary texts, even though the pronunciation is still ё.

So you may see:

• пьём — fully marked spelling
• пьем — common unmarked spelling

Both represent the same word here, but for learners, пьём is very helpful because it shows the correct pronunciation and stress.

Часто means often, and putting it before the verb is a very natural, neutral word order:

• Зимой мы часто пьём горячий чай дома.

Russian word order is more flexible than English word order, because endings carry a lot of grammatical information. So you can move things around for emphasis.

For example:

• Зимой мы часто пьём горячий чай дома. = neutral
• Дома зимой мы часто пьём горячий чай. = emphasizes at home
• Горячий чай мы зимой часто пьём дома. = emphasizes hot tea

So the order is not completely fixed, but the original sentence sounds normal and natural.

Горячий agrees with чай in gender, number, and case.

Here:

• чай is masculine singular
• it is the direct object of пьём
• but because чай is inanimate, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular

So:

• nominative: горячий чай
• accusative (inanimate masculine): горячий чай

That is why the phrase stays горячий чай.

If the noun were feminine, for example, the adjective would change differently:

• мы пьём горячую воду = we drink hot water

Because чай is a masculine inanimate noun, and in Russian the accusative singular of masculine inanimate nouns is usually the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: чай
• accusative: чай

That can feel strange to English speakers, because English does not show noun case like this. But in Russian, many objects do not look different from the dictionary form.

Compare:

• Я вижу стол. = I see a table.
  (стол stays the same)
• Я вижу брата. = I see my brother.
  Here брата changes, because брат is animate.

Yes, дома can mean different things depending on context.

In this sentence, дома is an adverb meaning at home.

So:

• Я дома. = I am at home.
• Мы пьём чай дома. = We drink tea at home.

But дома can also be the plural nominative/accusative of дом:

• Новые дома = new houses

Here, because it comes at the end of the sentence and describes where the action happens, it clearly means at home.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• дома = at home
• в доме = in the house / inside the house

Дома is the normal choice when talking about being at home in a general sense.

So:

• Мы пьём чай дома. = We drink tea at home.
• Мы пьём чай в доме. = We drink tea in the house.

The second version sounds more physical or contrastive, as if you are specifically talking about the inside of a building.

Yes, Russian can often omit subject pronouns when the verb form already makes the subject clear.

So you could say:

• Зимой часто пьём горячий чай дома.

and пьём already tells you the subject is we.

However, including мы is also perfectly normal. It can make the sentence clearer, more explicit, or slightly more contrastive.

So both are possible:

• Зимой мы часто пьём горячий чай дома.
• Зимой часто пьём горячий чай дома.

Here it means a habitual action, not something happening at this exact moment.

That is because of:

• зимой = in winter
• часто = often

Together they show a repeated, usual action:

• In winter, we often drink hot tea at home.

Russian present tense can cover both simple present and present continuous meanings, depending on context. In this sentence, the context clearly makes it habitual.

Russian does not have articles like English a/an and the.

So горячий чай can mean:

• hot tea
• some hot tea
• the hot tea

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, the natural English translation is just hot tea, but Russian itself does not mark that distinction with an article.