В этот раз мы остановились в недорогом хостеле рядом с вокзалом.

This time we stayed in an inexpensive hostel near the station.

Breakdown of В этот раз мы остановились в недорогом хостеле рядом с вокзалом.

• в: in
• мы: we
• вокзал: the station
• этот: this
• рядом с: near
• раз: the time
• остановиться: to stay
• недорогой: inexpensive
• хостел: the hostel

Questions & Answers about В этот раз мы остановились в недорогом хостеле рядом с вокзалом.

Why is it в этот раз and not в этом разе?

В этот раз is a fixed, natural phrase meaning “this time”. Grammatically:

• в
  • этот раз = preposition в
    • accusative (masculine inanimate → form looks like nominative)
• раз = “time, occasion”

The form в этом разе is technically possible but sounds archaic or stylistically strange in modern speech. You could hear в этом случае (“in this case”) or в это время (“at this time”), but for “this time (on this occasion)” Russians normally say в этот раз.

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What verb form is остановились, and why is it reflexive?

Остановились is:

• past tense
• perfective aspect
• 1st person plural (“we”)
• reflexive (ending -сь)
• from the verb остановиться (“to stop, to stay somewhere for the night / for some time”)

Base form: остановиться
Past tense:

• он останови́лся
• она останови́лась
• оно останови́лось
• они/мы вы останови́лись

The reflexive ending -ся / -сь appears because historically it means something like “stop oneself”. In modern Russian, остановиться где-то also means “to stay / lodge somewhere”, as in остановиться в хостеле = “stay in a hostel”.

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What is the difference between остановились and останавливались here?

They are different aspects of the same general action:

• остановились – perfective

  • a single, completed action: “(we) stayed / checked in (this time)”
  • focus on the result: at some point, we ended up staying there.

• останавливались – imperfective

  • repeated / habitual / process: “(we) used to stay / were staying”
  • focus on duration or repetition, not on the final result.

So:

• В этот раз мы остановились в недорогом хостеле…
  “This time we (chose and) stayed in a cheap hostel…”

• Раньше мы часто останавливаліся в этом хостеле.
  “We used to stay in this hostel often before.”

In your sentence, the speaker is talking about one concrete trip, so остановились is the natural choice.

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Does остановились here mean “stopped moving” or “stayed overnight”? How do I know?

It can mean both, depending on context:

1. To stop moving

   • Машина остановилась. – “The car stopped.”

2. To stay / lodge somewhere

   • Мы остановились в хостеле. – “We stayed in a hostel.”

You know the meaning here from what follows:

• остановились в хостеле – preposition в
  • a place where people can stay → strongly suggests “to stay / lodge”, not just “to stop walking/driving”.

If the writer wanted to say “we stopped (the car) near the station”, they’d typically name a street, a parking lot, etc., not хостел.

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Why is it в недорогом хостеле and not в недорогий хостел?

Because the preposition в with the meaning “in, inside” requires prepositional case:

• Nominative: недорого́й хостел – “a cheap hostel” (dictionary form)
• Prepositional singular (masc.):
  
  • в хостеле – “in the hostel”
  • в недорого́м хостеле – “in a cheap hostel”

So both the adjective and the noun change to the prepositional case:

• хостел → хостеле
• недорого́й → недорого́м

The phrase в недорогий хостел would be incorrect; the adjective must agree with the noun in case, number, and gender.

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What exactly does недорогом mean? Is it “cheap” or “not too expensive”?

Недорого́й / недорого́м literally means “not expensive”.

Nuance:

• Often understood as “affordable / reasonably priced”, not necessarily the absolute cheapest option.
• дешёвый = “cheap” (and can sometimes carry a slightly negative connotation: low quality, tacky).
• недорого́й хостел sounds neutral or mildly positive: budget-friendly but acceptable.

So в недорогом хостеле is best translated as “in an inexpensive / budget hostel”, not “in a dirt-cheap hostel”.

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Why do we use в хостеле and not на хостеле?

In Russian, the choice of в vs на with a place is mostly idiomatic:

• в is used for being inside / within most closed spaces or buildings:
  
  • в доме, в отеле, в школе, в магазине
• на is used with some open or concept-type locations:
  
  • на улице, на вокзале, на почте, на стадионе

A хостел is treated like a building or interior space you are in, so Russians say:

• в хостеле, в отеле, в гостинице

На хостеле would mean “on top of the hostel (on the roof)” and is not what is meant here.

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What is the difference between хостел, гостиница, and отель?

Approximate distinctions in modern Russian:

• хостел

  • typically budget accommodation
  • often dorm-style, shared rooms, shared bathrooms
  • similar to hostel in English

• гостиница

  • the general native Russian word for a hotel
  • can be anything from modest to quite good
  • neutral, standard word

• отель

  • borrowed from French/English “hotel”
  • often used for more formal or higher-class places, or just as a stylish term
  • many establishments brand themselves as отель even if they’re small

In your sentence, недорогой хостел clearly suggests a budget, hostel-style place, not a standard hotel.

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How does рядом с вокзалом work grammatically? What case is вокзалом?

The structure is:

• рядом – adverb “nearby, next to”
• с – preposition “with / near”
• вокзалом – noun вокзал in the instrumental case (singular masculine)

The pattern is: рядом с + instrumental:

• рядом с домо́м – next to the house
• рядом с па́рком – next to the park
• рядом с вокза́лом – next to the station

So вокзалом here is the instrumental form of вокзал.

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Could we say у вокзала instead of рядом с вокзалом? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say both, and both mean “near the station”:

• рядом с вокзалом – “(right) next to the station / nearby the station”
• у вокзала – literally “by the station, at the station”

Nuance:

• рядом с highlights physical proximity, almost “right next to”.
• у is very common and can mean “near / by / at” in a broader sense.

In most everyday contexts, в хостеле рядом с вокзалом and в хостеле у вокзала are interchangeable. The original choice just emphasizes “a hostel that’s close to the station”.

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Can I change the word order, for example Мы в этот раз остановились…? What sounds natural?

Several orders are possible and grammatical, but the nuance of emphasis changes a bit.

All of these are natural:

1. В этот раз мы остановились в недорогом хостеле рядом с вокзалом.
   – Neutral, common. Light emphasis on “this time” at the beginning.

2. Мы в этот раз остановились в недорогом хостеле рядом с вокзалом.
   – Extra emphasis on “this time” in contrast to other times:
   “This time we (in particular) stayed in a cheap hostel…”

These would sound odd or wrong:

• Мы остановились в этот раз в недорогом хостеле… – grammatically possible, but clumsy and less natural.
• Splitting the noun phrase unnaturally, e.g. в недорогом рядом с вокзалом хостеле, is not good; descriptive parts usually come together before the noun:
  
  • natural: в недорогом хостеле рядом с вокзалом

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How do you pronounce the whole sentence? Where is the stress in each word?

With stress marks:

В э́тот раз мы останови́лись в недорого́м хо́стеле ря́дом с вокза́лом.

Word by word (stressed syllables in caps in Latin transcription):

• В – [v]
• э́тот – [É-tat]
• раз – [ras]
• мы – [mɨ] (“my” but with the Russian /y/ sound)
• останови́лись – [as-ta-na-VI-lis’]
• в – [v]
• недорого́м – [ni-da-ra-GÓM]
• хо́стеле – [HÓ-ste-le]
• ря́дом – [RYA-dam]
• с – [s]
• вокза́лом – [vak-ZA-lam]

Natural speech will link many of these together, but keeping the stresses as above will make your pronunciation clear and understandable.