Я спросил у охраны, можно ли войти без пропуска.

I asked security whether it’s possible to enter without a pass.

Breakdown of Я спросил у охраны, можно ли войти без пропуска.

• я: I
• войти: to enter
• без: without
• у: from

Questions & Answers about Я спросил у охраны, можно ли войти без пропуска.

Why is it Я спросил and not Я спрашивал?

Спросил is perfective: it presents the question as a single, completed action (I asked (once)).
Спрашивал is imperfective: it suggests a process, repetition, or background action (I was asking / I used to ask / I asked (in general, without focusing on completion)).
In this sentence, the speaker likely means one specific, completed question, so спросил fits best.

Why does спросил end with -л?

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number:

• я спросил = male speaker (masculine)
• я спросила = female speaker (feminine)
• мы спросили = plural The -л is the standard past-tense marker.

Why is it у охраны? What does у mean here?

У + Genitive often means from / at / with someone. With verbs like спросить (to ask), у marks the person/people you ask:

• спросить у охраны = to ask the security (staff) You can think of it as “I asked at/from security.”

Why is in the genitive case?