Breakdown of Я устаю на работе.
я
I
работа
work, job
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
уставать
to get tired
Questions & Answers about Я устаю на работе.
How would I say this sentence in the past tense?
To make it past tense, we use the infinitive уставать (to get tired). We drop the -ть and add the past tense endings. Since я (I) can be masculine or feminine, a man would say Я уставал на работе, and a woman would say Я уставала на работе.
Why does the present tense verb устаю look so different from its infinitive?
The infinitive is уставать. Verbs ending in -авать drop the -ва- part in the present tense, giving us устаю. But as you are learning in this lesson, regular past tense verbs are built from the whole infinitive stem, so that -ва- comes back in the past tense (уставал).
Why do we use на instead of в for 'at work'?
While в usually means 'in' or 'at' a physical building, Russian uses на (literally 'on') for certain activities and abstract concepts. Работа (work) is one of these traditional exceptions, so 'at work' is always на работе.
Why does работа change to работе in this sentence?
Because it follows the preposition на to show a location, it must be in the Prepositional case. For most feminine nouns ending in -а, like работа, we change the -а to an -е.