По утрам я быстро собираюсь, чтобы не опоздать на работу.

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Breakdown of По утрам я быстро собираюсь, чтобы не опоздать на работу.

• на: to
• работа: the work
• утро: the morning

Questions & Answers about По утрам я быстро собираюсь, чтобы не опоздать на работу.

Why does по утрам mean in the mornings, and not literally along the mornings?

This is a fixed Russian pattern:

• по утрам = in the mornings
• по вечерам = in the evenings
• по понедельникам = on Mondays

Here по + plural dative often expresses a repeated time pattern.

So:

• утром = in the morning / this morning / in the morning in a general sense
• по утрам = mornings, as a habit

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a routine, so по утрам is the natural choice.

What case is утрам, and why is it in that case?

Утрам is dative plural of утро.

That happens because the preposition по often takes the dative case, especially in expressions of habitual time like:

• по утрам
• по вечерам
• по выходным

So the structure is:

• по
  • dative plural = on / in / during ... regularly