Breakdown of Он обычно предупреждает меня за пять минут до встречи.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
я
I
обычно
usually
встреча
meeting
Questions & Answers about Он обычно предупреждает меня за пять минут до встречи.
How does the phrase за пять минут до встречи literally work to mean "five minutes before the meeting"?
To say how long before an event something happens, Russian uses a specific formula: за + [amount of time in Accusative] + до + [the event in Genitive]. Here, за пять минут gives the amount of time, and до встречи names the upcoming event.
Since за requires the Accusative case here, why is the word минут used instead of an Accusative form?
The phrase пять минут actually is in the Accusative case! For inanimate objects, the Accusative form of the number пять is just пять. However, numbers 5 and above always force the noun that follows them into the Genitive plural. So, минут is the Genitive plural form of минута.
Why do we use the imperfective verb предупреждает instead of its perfective counterpart?
We use the imperfective aspect because this is a recurring, habitual action. The adverb обычно (usually) is your biggest clue. If this were a specific, one-time event in the future (like "He will warn me"), we would use the perfective verb предупредит.
Why does the word встреча change to встречи at the end of the sentence?