Learn Hardcore Russian: Спроси у администратора, нужно ли заранее платить за хостел. - Ask the receptionist whether it is necessary to pay for the hostel in advance.

спросить = perfective aspect (focus on the result: to ask once / to find out)
спроси = “Ask!” / “Go and ask!” (you, one person, informally)
The subject ты (“you”) is understood and therefore omitted.

Formal / plural versions:

Informal: Спроси у администратора… (to a friend)
Formal/plural: Спросите у администратора… (to a stranger or a group)

So Спроси у администратора… = “Ask the receptionist…” (addressed to “you” singular, informally).

Why do we say у администратора instead of just администратора?

In Russian, when you ask someone for information, you commonly use the preposition у + genitive case:

спросить у кого? – “to ask whom? / to ask from whom?”
- у администратора – “from the administrator / at the administrator”

So:

Спроси у администратора… literally: “Ask from the administrator…”, idiomatically: “Ask the administrator…”.

You may also see:

Спроси администратора (without у). This is also possible and means roughly the same, but спросить у
- genitive is the most standard pattern for “ask someone (a question, for information)”.

What case is администратора, and why is it used here?

Администратора here is in the genitive singular.

Reason: the preposition у (“at / from”) always requires the genitive:

у кого? – “at/from whom?”
- у администратора
- у врача (from the doctor)
- у мамы (from mom)

So it’s genitive because of у, not because of the verb itself.

What does the particle ли do in нужно ли заранее платить?

Ли is a question particle that usually corresponds to English “whether” or sometimes to the “if” in “ask if…”.

нужно ли заранее платить ≈ “whether it’s necessary to pay in advance”

Key points:

ли turns the phrase into an indirect question:
- Спроси, нужно ли заранее платить – “Ask whether it’s necessary to pay in advance.”
ли normally goes right after the word it relates to:
- нужно ли платить – “whether it’s necessary to pay”
- будет ли он платить – “whether he will pay”

You cannot put ли at the beginning as in English “if/whether”; it must come after a word in the clause.

Why is there no word like “that” in “Спроси у администратора, нужно ли…”?

In English you say:
“Ask the administrator if / whether it’s necessary to pay in advance.”

In Russian, the ли and the word order are enough to show an embedded question, so you don’t need a separate “that”:

Спроси у администратора, нужно ли заранее платить…
- Literally: “Ask at the administrator, whether it is necessary to pay in advance…”

You do not say:
✗ Спроси у администратора, что нужно ли… – this is ungrammatical.

Russian simply connects the clauses with a comma and uses ли to mark the indirect question.

Why is it платить, not заплатить? What’s the difference?

Both verbs mean “to pay”, but they differ in aspect:

платить – imperfective (process, general action, no focus on a single result)
заплатить – perfective (a single completed payment, result-focused)

In this sentence:

нужно ли заранее платить за хостел = “whether one needs to (in general) pay in advance for the hostel”
- Neutral, general statement about the requirement.

You could hear:

нужно ли заранее заплатить за хостел
This emphasizes making that payment as a one-time completed action. It’s also acceptable, but платить sounds slightly more general and typical for “Is prepayment required?” as a rule.

Both are possible; платить here is the more neutral, “rule-oriented” choice.

What exactly is нужно here? Is it a verb like “need”?

Нужно in this sentence is a predicative word meaning roughly “it is necessary / one must”. It works kind of like an impersonal verb:

нужно платить – “it is necessary to pay / you need to pay / one must pay”

There is no explicit subject (“someone”) in Russian; it’s an impersonal construction:

нужно ли заранее платить за хостел
Literally: “Is it necessary to pay in advance for the hostel?”

Compare with надо:

нужно платить and надо платить are very close in meaning.
Нужно can sound a bit more neutral or slightly more formal; надо is more colloquial, but in everyday speech they often feel almost the same.

What does заранее mean exactly, and where can it go in the sentence?

Заранее means “in advance / beforehand / ahead of time.”

In this sentence:

нужно ли заранее платить за хостел
= “whether it’s necessary to pay for the hostel in advance.”

Typical positions:

Before the verb: заранее платить, заранее заплатить
Sometimes at the beginning or end of a clause:
- Заранее нужно заплатить за хостел.
- Нужно заплатить за хостел заранее.

The most natural spot is usually just before the infinitive verb describing the action done in advance, as in the original sentence.

Why do we say платить за хостел? What does за mean here, and what case is хостел?

Here за means “for (in exchange for, as payment for)” and it requires the accusative case.

платить за что? – “to pay for what?”
- платить за хостел – “to pay for the hostel”

Хостел is a masculine noun; its accusative singular form is the same as its nominative (хостел), so it doesn’t change in appearance.

Other examples:

платить за билет (ticket)
платить за еду (food)
платить за проживание (accommodation)

Is Спроси у администратора… polite? How would I make it more polite or formal?

Спроси у администратора… is:

informal, addressed to ты (a friend, family member, colleague you’re close to)
The bare imperative in Russian is not rude by itself, but it can be direct.

More formal or polite variants:

Change to formal/plural:
- Спросите у администратора, нужно ли заранее платить за хостел.
Make it even more polite / soft:
- Пожалуйста, спросите у администратора… – “Please ask the administrator…”
- Не могли бы вы спросить у администратора, нужно ли заранее платить за хостел?
  – “Could you ask the administrator whether it’s necessary to pay in advance for the hostel?”

So for strangers, use Спросите…, optionally with пожалуйста or a “Could you…” style phrase.

What is хостел exactly? Is it just “hostel” in English, and how is it stressed?

Yes, хостел is a borrowing from English “hostel”, usually meaning budget/shared accommodation, often with shared rooms and facilities.

Stress: хо́стел (stress on the first syllable)
Declension (masculine, inanimate, like стол):
- Nom./Acc. sg.: хо́стел
- Gen. sg.: хо́стела
- Prep. sg.: в хо́стеле
- Dat. sg.: хо́стелу
- Instr. sg.: хо́стелом

It contrasts with:

гости́ница – “hotel” (more standard)
отель – “hotel” (often a bit more formal/upscale, also a borrowing)

Why is there a comma before нужно in this sentence?

The sentence consists of:

Main clause (imperative):
- Спроси у администратора – “Ask the administrator”
Subordinate content/indirect-question clause:
- нужно ли заранее платить за хостел – “whether it’s necessary to pay for the hostel in advance”

In Russian, a subordinate clause like this is normally separated by a comma from the main clause:

Спроси у администратора, нужно ли заранее платить за хостел.

This is similar to English punctuation in:

“Ask the administrator if you need to pay in advance for the hostel.”