Breakdown of В июне начинается путешествие, поэтому мы готовимся заранее.
мы
we
в
on / during (a time period)
поэтому
so (therefore)
начинаться
to begin (of an event)
июнь
June
заранее
in advance
готовиться
to prepare
путешествие
journey
Questions & Answers about В июне начинается путешествие, поэтому мы готовимся заранее.
Why is it в июне instead of в июнь?
To say "in a certain month," Russian uses the preposition в followed by the Prepositional case. The dictionary form for June is июнь. Since it is a masculine noun ending in a soft sign, we replace the soft sign with -е to get в июне.
Why do the verbs начинается and готовимся end with -ся?
The -ся ending shows that these verbs are reflexive. The trip is beginning on its own (начинается), rather than starting something else. Similarly, we are preparing ourselves (готовимся) for the trip. If you used мы готовим without the -ся, it would mean you are cooking or preparing a separate object.
Is путешествие the subject of the first part of the sentence?
Yes! Even though it comes after the verb начинается, путешествие (the trip) is the subject doing the action. Word order in Russian is very flexible, and putting the subject after the verb is a common way to emphasize the action or make the sentence flow more naturally.
Does the word заранее really end with two е letters?
Yes, заранее (in advance) is an adverb that ends with a double е. When you say it out loud, you simply make the final "ye" sound slightly longer.
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