Breakdown of У нас строгий график: по утрам мы работаем, а по вечерам отдыхаем.
а
and (contrastive)
мы
we
работать
to work
отдыхать
to rest
Questions & Answers about У нас строгий график: по утрам мы работаем, а по вечерам отдыхаем.
Why do we use по утрам and по вечерам to mean "in the mornings" and "in the evenings"?
This is a standard way to describe regular routines in Russian. The preposition по followed by a noun in the Dative plural (like утрам or вечерам) shows that an action happens repeatedly during those times. It translates perfectly to adding an "-s" in English, like "mornings" or "evenings".
Could I just say каждое утро (every morning) instead of по утрам?
Yes, you could say каждое утро мы работаем, and the core meaning is the same. However, по утрам emphasizes a general habit or how a block of time is usually spent ("mornings are for working"). Since the sentence is about explaining a "strict schedule" (строгий график), по утрам and по вечерам sound very natural for laying out the general rules.
The word for morning is у́тро with the stress on the first syllable. Why is the stress on the last syllable in утра́м?
The noun утро has a shifting stress pattern. In the singular forms, the stress is on the first syllable (like у́тром for "in the morning"). But in all plural forms, the stress shifts to the ending: утра́, утра́м, утра́ми. Notice that вечер (evening) doesn't do this—its stress stays on the first syllable even in the plural: ве́черам.