Breakdown of Мы обычно бронируем отель заранее, в марте.
мы
we
обычно
usually
в
on / during (a time period)
март
March
Questions & Answers about Мы обычно бронируем отель заранее, в марте.
Why does март change to в марте here?
To say 'in a certain month', Russian uses the preposition в (in) followed by the Prepositional case. Because март (March) is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, it takes the standard Prepositional ending -е.
We are booking the hotel, so it is the direct object. Why doesn't отель change its ending?
It actually is in the Accusative case here! For inanimate masculine nouns like отель (things, places, concepts), the Accusative form is identical to the Nominative (dictionary) form. If we were booking a feminine noun like a room (комната), the ending would change to комнату.
What is the dictionary form of бронируем?
The dictionary form (infinitive) is бронировать (to book or reserve). It belongs to a very common group of verbs ending in -овать. When you conjugate these verbs, the -ова- part turns into -у-. That is why бронировать becomes бронируем (we book).
Is заранее related to other words we might know?
Yes! Заранее (in advance, beforehand) is an adverb built from the prefix за- (which often points to doing something ahead of time) and a form of the word рано (early). Because it is an adverb, its spelling is fixed and never changes.