Завтра я буду сдавать курсовую на кафедре.

It is the compound future of an imperfective verb.

• буду = I will
• сдавать = imperfective infinitive to hand in / submit

Russian often forms the future of imperfective verbs with быть in the future + infinitive:

• я буду делать
• ты будешь делать
• он/она будет делать

So я буду сдавать means something like I will be submitting or I will submit.

This is mainly an aspect question.

• буду сдавать = imperfective future
• сдам = perfective future

The difference is about how the action is viewed:

• буду сдавать focuses more on the process / planned activity
• сдам focuses more on the completed result

So:

• Завтра я буду сдавать курсовую... = Tomorrow I’ll be handing in / submitting my term paper.
• Завтра я сдам курсовую... = Tomorrow I’ll hand in my term paper, and the result is emphasized.

In real life, both can be possible. The imperfective version can sound a little less result-focused and a little more like this is what I’m going to be doing tomorrow.

Yes, сдавать is a very common verb with several meanings. Here it means to hand in / submit academic work.

Some other common meanings are:

• сдавать экзамен = to take an exam
• сдавать квартиру = to rent out an apartment
• сдавать одежду в химчистку = to hand clothes in to the dry cleaner

So the exact meaning depends on the object. With курсовую, the meaning is clearly submit / hand in a term paper.

Because it is in the accusative case, since it is the direct object of сдавать.

The full phrase is usually:

• курсовая работа = course paper / term paper

In the sentence, that becomes:

• сдавать курсовую работу

Since students very often omit работа, they just say:

• сдавать курсовую

So курсовую is the accusative feminine singular form, agreeing with the omitted noun работу.

Compare:

• курсовая = nominative
• курсовую = accusative

Yes. Both are correct.

• курсовую работу = full, explicit form
• курсовую = shorter, very common everyday student speech

Using just курсовую is completely normal when the context is already clear.

Here кафедра means an academic department or chair at a university.

It does not mean a literal podium or lectern in this sentence, even though that word exists too in Russian.

In university context:

• факультет = faculty / larger division
• кафедра = department / chair within it

So на кафедре means something like at the department.

Because Russian idiomatically uses на with some institutions, departments, workplaces, and organized settings.

So:

• на кафедре = at the department

This is just the normal way to say it in this context.
В кафедре would sound unnatural here.

If you wanted to talk about a physical room, you might say something more specific, for example:

• в кабинете кафедры = in the department office

It is prepositional singular.

The basic form is:

• кафедра

After на when talking about location, it becomes:

• на кафедре = at the department

So the sentence uses на + prepositional because it tells you where the action happens.

Yes, but the meaning would shift.

• на кафедре = at the department; location
• на кафедру = to the department; direction or recipient

So this sentence presents the department as the place where the submission happens. If you used на кафедру, you would be presenting it more as the destination.

Both ideas are possible in Russian, but they are not identical.

Yes. Russian often omits subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form.

Since буду already tells us the subject is I, you can say:

• Завтра буду сдавать курсовую на кафедре.

That sounds natural.

Keeping я can add a little emphasis, contrast, or simply make the sentence feel fuller in conversation.

The word order is not fixed in the same way it is in English.

Putting завтра first is very natural because it sets the time frame right away:

• Завтра я буду сдавать курсовую на кафедре.

Other orders are also possible:

• Я завтра буду сдавать курсовую на кафедре.
• Курсовую я буду сдавать завтра на кафедре.

The main difference is emphasis, not basic meaning. Russian word order is often used to highlight what is most important or what is already known from context.

Not necessarily.

Imperfective verbs in Russian can express different ideas, including:

• process
• repeated action
• general fact
• planned activity without focusing on completion

Here, because курсовую is usually a one-time submission, the sentence is understood as a single planned event. The imperfective does not automatically mean repetition here. It just means the speaker is not emphasizing the completed result as strongly as they would with сдам.