Перед выходом я застегнула куртку до самого воротника и подняла капюшон.

In this sentence, перед means before, and выходом is the noun выход (exit, going out, departure) in the instrumental case.

So перед выходом literally means before the going-out or before the departure, but in natural English it is usually before leaving or before going outside.

This is a very common Russian pattern:

• перед сном = before sleep / before going to bed
• перед уроком = before class
• перед отъездом = before leaving

So here, перед выходом is an idiomatic way to say before going out.

Because the preposition перед normally takes the instrumental case when it means before or in front of.

Examples:

• перед домом = in front of the house
• перед ужином = before dinner
• перед выходом = before going out

So:

• dictionary form: выход
• after перед: выходом

Because the speaker is female.

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

• masculine: застегнул, поднял
• feminine: застегнула, подняла
• neuter: застегнуло, подняло
• plural: застегнули, подняли

Since the sentence has я and the speaker is a woman, the feminine forms are used:

• я застегнула
• я подняла

A male speaker would say:

• Перед выходом я застегнул куртку до самого воротника и поднял капюшон.

Because it is the direct object of застегнула.

The verb застегнуть means to fasten / to button / to zip up, and the thing being fastened goes in the accusative:

• застегнуть куртку = to fasten/zip up the jacket
• застегнуть пальто = to button the coat
• застегнуть рубашку = to button the shirt

Here:

• nominative: куртка
• accusative: куртку

Since куртка is an inanimate feminine noun, its accusative singular is куртку.

It means all the way up to the collar.

Breakdown:

• до = up to / as far as
• самого = very / very top / all the way to that exact point
• воротника = collar, in the genitive case

So застегнула куртку до самого воротника means she fastened the jacket completely, right up to the collar.

A natural English translation would be:

• I zipped/buttoned my jacket all the way up to the collar.

Самого adds emphasis. Without it, до воротника would still be grammatical and understandable, but до самого воротника sounds more vivid and stresses that the jacket was fastened completely up to that point.

Compare:

• до воротника = up to the collar
• до самого воротника = all the way up to the collar / right up to the collar

This use of самый is common in Russian for emphasis:

• до самого дома = all the way to the house
• с самого утра = from early morning / from the very morning
• до самого вечера = until the very evening

Because the preposition до takes the genitive case.

Examples:

• до дома = up to the house / until home
• до вечера = until evening
• до двери = up to the door
• до воротника = up to the collar

So:

• dictionary form: воротник
• after до: воротника

And because самого describes воротника, it also appears in the matching genitive masculine singular form: самого.

Yes, literally it means raised the hood, but in context it naturally means put up the hood.

In Russian, поднять капюшон is a normal way to express the action of moving the hood into position over your head.

So:

• поднять капюшон = to put up the hood
• опустить капюшон = to lower the hood / take the hood down

English often says put up the hood, while Russian uses raise.

Yes. These are perfective past-tense forms:

• застегнула ← застегнуть
• подняла ← поднять

The perfective aspect shows completed actions. That fits the sentence well, because the speaker did two finished things before going out:

1. she fastened the jacket
2. she put up the hood

If you used imperfective forms here, it would sound more like process, repetition, or background action, depending on context.

So the perfective is natural because the sentence describes a sequence of completed actions.

Russian often leaves out possessive words like my, your, or his when the meaning is obvious from context.

In English, we usually say:

• I zipped up my jacket and pulled up my hood.

In Russian, if it is clear that the jacket and hood belong to the speaker, you can simply say:

• я застегнула куртку
• подняла капюшон

Adding свою is possible, but often unnecessary:

• я застегнула свою куртку = I fastened my own jacket

That can sound more emphatic or contrastive, rather than neutral.

No, it is not the only way. Russian can also use a full clause, for example:

• Перед тем как выйти, я застегнула куртку...
• Прежде чем выйти, я застегнула куртку...

These mean Before going out / Before I went out, I fastened my jacket...

But перед выходом is shorter and very natural. Russian often prefers compact noun phrases where English might use a clause.

The word order is natural, but Russian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The sentence as given:

• Перед выходом я застегнула куртку до самого воротника и подняла капюшон.

This is a neutral, natural order:

• time expression first
• subject
• actions

You could rearrange parts for emphasis, for example:

• Я перед выходом застегнула куртку до самого воротника и подняла капюшон.
• Куртку я застегнула до самого воротника и подняла капюшон перед выходом.

These are still grammatical, but they shift emphasis slightly. For a learner, the original version is a very good standard model.

They refer to different parts of the jacket:

• воротник = collar
• капюшон = hood

So the sentence describes two separate actions:

• she fastened the jacket up to the collar
• she raised the hood

In other words, she made the jacket as closed and protective as possible before going out.