После работы мне хочется лечь и просто молчать.

После requires the genitive case, so работа becomes работы.

• работа = work, job
• после работы = after work

This is a fixed rule: after после, the following noun goes into the genitive.

Because хочется is used in an impersonal construction.

Literally, мне хочется is something like to me it feels like wanting or I feel like. The person experiencing the feeling is put in the dative case:

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

So:

• мне хочется спать = I feel like sleeping / I want to sleep
• мне хочется лечь = I feel like lying down

You cannot say я хочется.

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

• я хочу = a direct, straightforward statement of desire
• мне хочется = more like I feel like, I have the urge to, or I’m in the mood to

In this sentence, мне хочется sounds softer and more natural for a temporary feeling after work.

Compare:

• Я хочу лечь = I want to lie down
• Мне хочется лечь = I feel like lying down

The second one often sounds more emotional or situational.

Лечь means to lie down in the sense of going into a lying position. It is a perfective verb.

That fits this sentence because the speaker wants to do a complete action: first lie down, then be silent.

Important contrast:

• лечь = to lie down
• лежать = to be lying, to lie
• ложиться = to lie down / go to bed (imperfective)

So here:

• мне хочется лечь = I feel like lying down

The idea is not to be lying already, but to lie down.

This is about aspect and meaning.

• лечь is perfective: a one-time completed action, to lie down
• молчать is imperfective: an ongoing state, to be silent

That makes sense in context:

• first, the speaker wants to lie down (a completed action),
• then to just stay silent (an ongoing activity/state).

If you changed молчать to a perfective verb like замолчать, it would mean to fall silent or to become silent, which is a different idea.

Because they depend on хочется.

After verbs and expressions meaning want, feel like, need, can, etc., Russian commonly uses the infinitive:

• хочется спать = feel like sleeping
• нужно идти = need to go
• могу помочь = can help

So in this sentence:

• хочется лечь
• (хочется) просто молчать

The second infinitive is linked to the same хочется, even though it is not repeated.

Here просто means just or simply.

So и просто молчать means:

• and just be silent
• and simply say nothing

It adds the sense that the speaker does not want to do anything complicated—just lie down and not talk.

Russian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are clear from context or grammar.

Here, the experiencer is already shown by мне, so adding я is unnecessary.

• Мне хочется лечь already clearly means I feel like lying down

Russian generally uses pronouns less often than English does.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, though different orders can change emphasis.

The neutral version here is:

• После работы мне хочется лечь и просто молчать.

Other possible versions:

• Мне после работы хочется лечь и просто молчать.
• Мне хочется после работы лечь и просто молчать.

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis shifts slightly. The original sounds natural and neutral.

No. После работы is the correct fixed phrase.

A learner may be tempted to connect it with the verb работаю (I work), but here we need the noun работа (work) after the preposition после.

So:

• работа = work
• после работы = after work

Not:

• после работаю — incorrect

Yes, that is grammatically correct.

It would mean roughly the same thing, but the tone is a little different:

• Мне хочется лечь... = I feel like lying down...
• Я хочу лечь... = I want to lie down...

The version with хочется feels a bit more natural for describing a mood or state after a tiring day.

Because both actions are things the speaker feels like doing:

• лечь
• молчать

The full logical structure is:

• мне хочется [лечь] и [просто молчать]

In English, this is similar to:

• I feel like lying down and just being silent.

Russian often avoids repeating the governing word when it clearly applies to both parts.