Мне не хватает времени на домашнее задание.

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Breakdown of Мне не хватает времени на домашнее задание.

• на: for
• мне: me
• задание: the assignment

Questions & Answers about Мне не хватает времени на домашнее задание.

Why is it Мне and not Я or Меня in this sentence?

Мне is the dative case of я and literally means “to me / for me.”

In Russian, feelings like “lacking / having enough / needing” are often expressed with the person in the dative:

• Мне холодно. – It is cold to me → I’m cold.
• Мне нужно учиться. – It is necessary for me → I need to study.
• Мне не хватает времени. – Time is not enough for me → I don’t have enough time.

If you used я (nominative), it would sound like you are the grammatical subject doing an action, which is not how Russians normally structure this kind of idea. Here, the situation (time being insufficient) is what’s “happening to” you, so you’re in the dative: мне.

What exactly does не хватает mean here, and what verb is it?