Летом бабушка любит собирать клубнику на даче.

In Russian, some time expressions use the instrumental case without a preposition. Летом literally means something like during summer / in the summer.

Compare:

• лето = summer
• летом = in summer

This is a very common pattern:

• зимой = in winter
• весной = in spring
• осенью = in autumn

You can also say летом without any word for the because Russian has no articles.

Russian often leaves out possessives like my when they are obvious from context. So бабушка can naturally mean grandma or the grandmother, depending on the situation.

Also, Russian does not need a subject pronoun if the subject is already stated. Since бабушка is the subject, there is no need to add она.

So:

• Бабушка любит... = Grandma likes... not
• Бабушка она любит... = unnatural

After любить (to love, like), Russian normally uses an infinitive if you mean liking to do an action.

So:

• любит собирать = likes to pick / likes picking

This is similar to English:

• She likes reading
• She likes to read

In Russian, the infinitive is the normal structure here:

• люблю читать = I like reading
• любит собирать = she likes picking

This is about aspect.

• собирать = imperfective
• собрать = perfective

The sentence describes a habitual, repeated activity: what grandma likes doing in summer. For repeated or general actions, Russian usually uses the imperfective.

So:

• любит собирать клубнику = she likes picking strawberries / likes to pick strawberries

If you used собрать, it would sound more like liking to complete the action once, which does not fit as well here.

Because it is the direct object of собирать.

The dictionary form is:

• клубника = strawberry / strawberries as a crop or berry type

But after a transitive verb like собирать (to pick, gather), a feminine noun in -а usually changes to -у in the accusative singular:

• клубника → клубнику

This is the regular pattern:

• читать книгу = to read a book
• видеть машину = to see a car
• собирать клубнику = to pick strawberries

Russian often uses a singular noun where English uses a plural or a mass-like expression. Клубника can mean strawberries as a crop/berry type, not just one single strawberry.

So:

• собирать клубнику = to pick strawberries

This is very natural Russian. It is similar to how English sometimes says pick fruit rather than pick fruits.

If you said собирать клубники, that would not work here as the normal direct object form.

Дача is a very common Russian cultural word. It usually means a country house, summer cottage, or a garden plot with a small house, often used on weekends or in summer.

So на даче means:

• at the dacha
• out at the country cottage
• sometimes more loosely at the summer house

It does not match any single English word perfectly, so translations can vary.

This is mostly an idiomatic preposition choice.

With дача, Russian normally says:

• на даче = at the dacha
• ехать на дачу = to go to the dacha

Even though English learners may expect in, Russian uses на here by convention.

Also notice the noun changes form:

• дача → даче

That is the prepositional case after на when talking about location.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English because the case endings show the grammatical roles.

The neutral order here is:

• Летом бабушка любит собирать клубнику на даче.

But you could also say:

• Бабушка летом любит собирать клубнику на даче.
• На даче бабушка любит собирать клубнику летом.

These versions change the focus or emphasis, not the basic meaning.

The original sentence sounds natural and neutral, with летом setting the time first.

A helpful stress guide is:

• ле́том
• ба́бушка
• лю́бит
• собира́ть
• клубни́ку
• на да́че

So the full sentence is pronounced roughly like:

LYE-tam BA-boosh-ka LYU-bit sa-bee-RAT' kloob-NEE-koo na DA-che

A few useful notes:

• Unstressed о often sounds more like a.
• ю in любит gives a lyu sound.
• ч in даче is like English ch in church.

Usually it means a general habitual situation: In summer, grandma likes picking strawberries at the dacha.

Nothing in the sentence limits it to just one specific summer. The use of летом plus the imperfective собирать strongly suggests a repeated or typical activity.

If you wanted to make one specific summer clearer, you would usually add more context.

Yes. In many everyday contexts, любить + infinitive is often best translated as to like doing something, not necessarily the very strong English to love.

So:

• бабушка любит собирать клубнику usually means grandma likes picking strawberries

Depending on tone and context, loves picking strawberries is also possible, but likes is often the safest natural translation in English.