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Пожалуйста, подождите у входа: семинар скоро начнётся.

Пожалуйста, подождите у входа: семинар скоро начнётся.
Please wait at the entrance: the seminar will start soon.

Breakdown of Пожалуйста, подождите у входа: семинар скоро начнётся.

пожалуйста
please
подождать
to wait
вход
the entrance
скоро
soon
семинар
the seminar
начаться
to start/begin
у
at/by
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Questions & Answers about Пожалуйста, подождите у входа: семинар скоро начнётся.

Why is there a comma after Пожалуйста?

Because пожалуйста is being used as a parenthetical politeness marker (please). In Russian it’s commonly set off with a comma when it introduces the request: Пожалуйста, подождите…
You may also see it without a comma in more casual writing, but the comma is very standard and “safe” in learners’ Russian.

Why is it подождите and not ждите?

Подождите is the imperative of the perfective verb подождать (“to wait a bit / to wait for some time until something happens”). It often implies a limited waiting period and sounds natural for “Please wait (here) [until we’re ready].”
Ждите is the imperfective imperative of ждать (“keep waiting / be waiting”), which can sound more open-ended or even harsher depending on context. In polite signs and announcements, подождите is extremely common.

What does the по- in подождите add?
The prefix по- often adds the nuance “for a while / a bit” to an action. So подождать is roughly “to wait a little / to wait for a short time,” compared with the more neutral ждать.
Why is it подождите (plural) if it could be addressed to one person?

Russian uses the plural вы form as the polite/formal “you.”
So подождите can mean:

  • “Wait (you all)…” (true plural), or
  • “Please wait…” to one person politely (formal singular).

If you were speaking informally to one person (ты), you’d say подожди.

How do I pronounce подождите and where is the stress?

Stress: подождИте.
Approximate pronunciation: puh-duzh-DEE-tye.
The жд cluster is real: you pronounce both sounds closely together.

Why is it у входа and not в входе / на входе?

У + Genitive means “by/near/at (someone’s/something’s place).” У входа = “by the entrance.”

  • В входе would mean “inside the entrance” (and sounds wrong here).
  • На входе can be used in some contexts (e.g., “at the entrance area / at the entry point”), but у входа is the most straightforward for “by the door/entrance.”
Why is входа in the genitive case?

Because the preposition у requires the genitive.
Dictionary form: вход (nominative singular) → genitive singular входа in у входа.

What’s the function of the colon (:) here? Could it be a dash or a period?

The colon introduces an explanation/reason for the request:

  • “Please wait by the entrance: the seminar will start soon.”

You could also write:

  • With a period: Пожалуйста, подождите у входа. Семинар скоро начнётся. (more neutral, two separate sentences)
  • With a dash: … у входа — семинар скоро начнётся. (more conversational/emphatic)

The colon is common in announcements/instructions.

Why is it начнётся and not начинается?

Начнётся is the future of the perfective verb начаться (“to begin,” one-time event). It fits well with “will start soon.”
Начинается is present tense of imperfective начинаться; it can mean “is starting” or can be used for scheduled events (“starts [regularly] at…”), but with скоро the perfective future начнётся is very natural for an upcoming start.

What is the -ся in начнётся doing?

Начаться / начинаться are reflexive forms used for an intransitive meaning: “to begin” (the event begins by itself).
Compare:

  • Семинар начнётся. = “The seminar will begin.” (intransitive)
  • Он начнёт семинар. = “He will start the seminar.” (transitive: someone starts something)
Is начнётся spelled with ё or е? I often see начнется.

Correctly, it’s начнётся with ё, and the stress is on that syllable: начнЁтся.
However, ё is frequently written as е in everyday text, so you’ll often see начнется. Pronunciation and stress remain the same.

Does word order matter here? Could I say Семинар начнётся скоро?

Both are possible:

  • семинар скоро начнётся sounds very natural and “announcement-like.”
  • семинар начнётся скоро is also correct; it can place slightly more focus on the fact of starting, then adds “soon.”

Russian word order is flexible, but changes can shift emphasis rather than basic meaning.