Learn Hardcore Vietnamese: Cuối tuần, chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà.

Literally, cuối = end and tuần = week, so cuối tuần = end (of the) week.
In practice, it’s just the normal way to say “weekend” in Vietnamese.

Does cuối tuần refer to both Saturday and Sunday, or just Sunday?

Cuối tuần normally means the whole weekend (Saturday + Sunday), like English on weekends.
If you need to be very specific, you add words:

thứ Bảy – Saturday
Chủ nhật – Sunday

But by default, cuối tuần is understood as “the weekend period”.

Do I need to put vào before cuối tuần, like vào cuối tuần?

You can say vào cuối tuần, but you don’t have to.

Cuối tuần, chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà.
Vào cuối tuần, chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà.

Both mean essentially “On weekends, we usually stay at home.”
Vào is a preposition roughly like on / at here. Adding it can sound a bit more explicit or careful, but it’s very common to just start with Cuối tuần.

Why is there a comma after Cuối tuần?

The comma shows that Cuối tuần is a time phrase moved to the front of the sentence, similar to English:

On weekends, we usually stay at home.

You could also write it without a comma in casual text:

Cuối tuần chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà.

The meaning doesn’t really change; the comma just matches normal written style.

Could I say Chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà vào cuối tuần instead? Is that the same?

Yes, that is also natural:

Chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà vào cuối tuần.

This is like English “We usually stay at home on weekends.”
Putting cuối tuần at the end is very common; putting it at the beginning (as in your original sentence) makes the time phrase slightly more topical or emphasized, but both orders are correct and normal.

What is the difference between chúng tôi and chúng ta?

Both mean “we”, but:

chúng tôi = we (not including you, the listener) → exclusive we
chúng ta = we (including you, the listener) → inclusive we

In this sentence, chúng tôi implies “we (some group) usually stay at home on weekends”, and the listener is not part of that group.
If you were talking to someone who is also part of that “we”, you’d use chúng ta or another suitable pronoun.

Is chúng tôi always necessary? Can Vietnamese drop the subject like Spanish or Italian?

Vietnamese can drop the subject pronoun when it’s clear from context, especially in conversation or diaries. For example, if everyone already knows who “we” is, you might say:

Cuối tuần, thường nghỉ ở nhà. (More natural if context is very clear)
Or: Cuối tuần, tụi mình thường nghỉ ở nhà. (if “we” includes the listener)

However, in an isolated example sentence (like in a textbook), chúng tôi is kept so you know who the subject is.

What does thường mean here, and where does it go in the sentence?

Thường means “usually / often” and it is a frequency adverb.
Typical positions:

Chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà.
Cuối tuần, chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà.

So pattern is basically: Subject + thường + Verb (Phrase).
You generally don’t say nghỉ thường ở nhà or nghỉ ở nhà thường – those orders are unnatural.

If there’s no tense ending, how do we know this means “we usually stay at home (nowadays)” and not past or future?

Vietnamese verbs don’t change form for tense. You understand the time from:

Time expressions – here cuối tuần (“on weekends”).
Adverbs of frequency – here thường (“usually”).

Together, they strongly suggest a general, habitual action (like English simple present).
To make it clearly past or future, you add more time words:

Past habit: Trước đây, cuối tuần chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà.
(In the past, on weekends we usually stayed at home.)
Future: Sau này, cuối tuần chúng tôi sẽ nghỉ ở nhà nhiều hơn.
(In the future, on weekends we will stay home more.)

What exactly does nghỉ mean here?

Nghỉ basically means “to rest / to be off / to take a break / to stop working”.
Common uses:

nghỉ làm – stop working / take time off work
nghỉ học – have a day off from school
nghỉ trưa – take a lunch/afternoon break
nghỉ hưu – retire

In nghỉ ở nhà, it implies not working / not going out, just staying home and resting.
So the meaning feels like “we usually have time off and stay home” rather than simply “we are at home”.

Can I say Chúng tôi thường ở nhà without nghỉ?

Yes:

Cuối tuần, chúng tôi thường ở nhà.

This means “On weekends, we are usually at home / we usually stay home.”
The nuance:

nghỉ ở nhà: emphasizes resting / having time off at home.
ở nhà (alone): focuses more on location (“at home”) and less on the idea of “time off”.

Why is it nghỉ ở nhà and not ở nhà nghỉ?

Word order matters a lot here:

nghỉ ở nhà = rest / take time off at home
nhà nghỉ (as one phrase) = guesthouse / small hotel / motel
ở nhà nghỉ = to be/stay at a guesthouse

So:

Chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà. – We usually stay (rest) at home.
Chúng tôi thường ở nhà nghỉ. – We are often at a guesthouse (completely different meaning).

Putting nghỉ immediately before ở nhà avoids accidentally forming the compound nhà nghỉ.

Does ở nhà mean “at home” or “in the house”? How is it different from just nhà?

ở nhà ≈ “at home / staying at home” (state of being located at home)
nhà alone = “house, home” (a noun), or part of a motion phrase:
- về nhà – go home
- ra khỏi nhà – go out of the house
- trong nhà – inside the house

Compare:

Tôi ở nhà. – I’m at home / I stay at home.
Tôi về nhà. – I’m going home.
Tôi đang ở trong nhà. – I’m inside the house (not outside).

Tại nhà also means “at home” but is more formal or written (e.g. advertisements, instructions).

How would I say “this weekend” or “last weekend” in this sentence?

You add a demonstrative or time word to cuối tuần:

Cuối tuần này, chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà.
This weekend, we usually stay at home. (more like “as for this weekend, we’ll be at home as usual”)
Cuối tuần trước, chúng tôi nghỉ ở nhà.
Last weekend, we stayed at home.

If you want a one-time past event, you usually drop thường, because thường implies habit:

Cuối tuần trước, chúng tôi nghỉ ở nhà. – Last weekend we stayed home.
Cuối tuần, chúng tôi thường nghỉ ở nhà. – On weekends, we usually stay home (habit).