Breakdown of Утром под яблоней было тихо, только грабли лежали на траве после работы.
Questions & Answers about Утром под яблоней было тихо, только грабли лежали на траве после работы.
Утром is a very common adverbial form meaning in the morning.
Historically, it is the instrumental case of утро (morning), but in modern Russian learners often just memorize утром as a time expression.
Compare:
- утром = in the morning
- днём = during the day / in the daytime
- вечером = in the evening
- ночью = at night
So in this sentence, Утром sets the time: In the morning...
Because под can take different cases depending on whether there is movement or location.
- под + instrumental = under (location, no movement)
- под + accusative = to under / underneath (direction, movement)
Here the sentence describes where things were: under the apple tree, so Russian uses the instrumental:
- под яблоней = under the apple tree
If there were movement, you could say:
- положить грабли под яблоню = to put the rake(s) under the apple tree