Breakdown of Я получил это напоминание за день до экзамена.
день
day
я
I
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
экзамен
exam
Questions & Answers about Я получил это напоминание за день до экзамена.
How does the phrase за день до work in this sentence?
It uses the lesson's target structure: за + Accusative for the amount of time + до + Genitive for the event. Here, за день gives the time elapsed, and до экзамена specifies the event.
Why is the perfective verb получил used here instead of the imperfective получал?
Receiving the reminder is a single, completed action with a clear result. In Russian, we use the perfective aspect for one-time finished events like this.
What case is это напоминание in, and why did the ending stay the same?
It is in the Accusative case because it is the direct object. Because напоминание is a neuter noun, its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its Nominative dictionary form.
Why does the word экзамен change to экзамена?
The preposition до always requires the Genitive case. Since экзамен is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, you add -а to form the Genitive экзамена.