Breakdown of Вы должны предупреждать менеджера за два дня до встречи.
день
day
вы
you (plural)
встреча
meeting
два
two
менеджер
manager
должен
must, have to (должен, должна, должны)
до
before, until
за ... до
before (in 'за ... до ...')
предупреждать
to warn (impf)
Questions & Answers about Вы должны предупреждать менеджера за два дня до встречи.
How does the phrase за два дня до встречи work to mean 'two days before the meeting'?
This follows the pattern you are learning: за + Accusative for the amount of time + до + Genitive for the event. The amount of time is два дня (two days), and the event is встречи (the Genitive singular form of встреча, meaning 'meeting').
In the phrase за два дня, is the word дня in the Accusative case?
The whole phrase два дня is in the Accusative case to satisfy the preposition за. However, because of Russian number rules, the number два forces the noun directly after it to be in the Genitive singular. So, дня itself is Genitive singular (from день).
Why is the imperfective verb предупреждать used here instead of the perfective предупредить?
Using the imperfective shows that this is a general, recurring rule: you must always or routinely warn the manager. If this sentence were an instruction about one specific, upcoming meeting, it would use the perfective предупредить.
Why does the word for manager look like it is in the Genitive case (менеджера)?
It is actually in the Accusative case because the manager is the direct object receiving the action (you are warning him/her). For animate nouns (living people or animals), the Accusative form looks exactly like the Genitive form, so менеджер becomes менеджера.
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