In formal settings—such as legal documents, administrative instructions, or travel announcements—you will frequently encounter a special construction to mean "upon" or "immediately after."
In Russian, this is expressed using the preposition по paired with a noun in the Prepositional case.
| upon / after (formal, e.g., upon arrival) | по |
The Grammar of "Upon"
Most formal actions in Russian are expressed as neuter nouns ending in -ие (like возвращение — the return, or завершение — the completion).
When declining nouns that end in -ие into the Prepositional case, the ending changes to -ии. However, standard masculine nouns (like приезд — the arrival) simply take the regular Prepositional -е ending.
| Nominative | Prepositional (with по) | Meaning |
|---|
| возвращение | по возвращении | upon return |
| завершение | по завершении | upon completion |
| приезд | по приезде | upon arrival |
Let's see this applied to immediate consequences, often paired with action verbs like приступить (to proceed).
Administrative Procedures
This structure heavily features in bureaucracy and business. You will see it used to describe the sequence of official steps involving the signing (подписание), review (рассмотрение), or approval (утверждение) of documents.
It is also the standard way to talk about time limits and deadlines, using words like истечение (expiration).
Arrivals
Travel and hospitality rely on this grammar to instruct guests on what to do when they get to their destination. Notice how both прибытие (ends in -ие) and приезд (ends in a consonant) mean "arrival," but their Prepositional endings follow their respective declension rules.