Breakdown of Когда обычно заканчивается сеанс?
обычно
usually
когда
when
сеанс
the screening
заканчиваться
to end (imperfective)
Questions & Answers about Когда обычно заканчивается сеанс?
Why does the verb заканчивается have the -ся ending here?
Because the action is intransitive, meaning the screening just "ends" on its own rather than someone ending it. The non-reflexive verb заканчивать is transitive, meaning someone ends something. When an event comes to an end by itself, we must use the reflexive -ся form.
What case is сеанс in, and why?
It is in the Nominative case because it is the main subject of the sentence. With reflexive phase verbs like заканчиваться (to end) or начинаться (to begin), the event itself is the subject performing the action.
Why do we use the imperfective verb заканчивается instead of the perfective закончится?
The adverb обычно (usually) tells us this is a repeated, habitual event. Habitual actions always trigger the imperfective aspect. If you were asking about one specific screening in the future ("When will the screening end?"), you would use the perfective future tense: Когда закончится сеанс?
Is it normal to put the subject сеанс at the very end of the sentence?
Yes, Russian word order is highly flexible. Putting the subject at the end of a question is perfectly natural and common. You could also say Когда сеанс обычно заканчивается? without changing the core meaning.
Does the word сеанс only refer to movies?