Breakdown of Он предупредил нас за день до отъезда.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
день
day
мы
we
отъезд
departure
до
before, until
за ... до
before (in 'за ... до ...')
предупредить
to warn (pf)
Questions & Answers about Он предупредил нас за день до отъезда.
How exactly does the phrase за день до отъезда translate to "a day before the departure"?
This is the specific structure Russian uses to say how much time elapsed before an event. It uses за + accusative for the time amount (день), and до + genitive for the event (отъезда). You can think of it literally as "in a day until the departure."
Why is отъезда in the genitive case here?
The preposition до (meaning "until" or "before") always requires the genitive case. Because the dictionary form is отъезд (a masculine noun ending in a consonant), we add -а to make it genitive.
What case does the verb предупредить (to warn) take for the person being warned?
It takes a direct object in the accusative case. Here, the pronoun мы (we) becomes нас (us) in the accusative to show who is receiving the warning.
What is the purpose of the hard sign (ъ) in the word отъезд?
The hard sign prevents the consonant before it from blending into the vowel after it. It separates the prefix от- from the root, meaning you pronounce a distinct "t" sound followed by "ye", rather than blending them into a soft "tye" sound.
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