Learn Hardcore Russian: Художница должна была закончить открытку до вечера, чтобы успеть на поезд в порт. - The female painter had to finish the postcard by evening in order to catch the train to the port.

In modern Russian, the masculine form художник is often used generically, but if the speaker wants to make it clear that the artist is a woman, they say художница. The suffix -ница is a common way to form feminine nouns from masculine professions or roles (e.g. ученик → ученица, артист → артистка, писатель → писательница).

What exactly does должна была mean, and how is it different from just должна?

должна была is the past tense of the modal construction “must / was supposed to.”

она должна сделать – “she must / has to do (it)” (present/future obligation).
она должна была сделать – “she had to / was supposed to do (it)” (obligation in the past).

So художница должна была закончить… = “The (female) artist had to / was supposed to finish…”.
The auxiliary verb была (past of быть, “to be”) puts the obligation in the past.

Why is закончить in the infinitive form?

In Russian, after modal-like verbs such as должен / должна / должен был(а), the following verb normally stays in the infinitive:

она должна работать – she must work
она должна была закончить – she had to finish

So должна была behaves like “had to,” and закончить stays in the infinitive just like in English: “had to finish.”

Why is it закончить and not заканчивать? What aspect choice is this?

Закончить is perfective; заканчивать is imperfective.

Here, the focus is on completing the action (finishing the card), not on the process, so the perfective is natural:

закончить открытку – to finish the card (reach the end, result).
заканчивать открытку – to be finishing the card (ongoing process, not necessarily complete).

Because this is a time-limited obligation (“before evening”), the sentence talks about achieving a result by a deadline, so the perfective закончить fits best.

Why is it открытку and not открытка?

Открытку is the accusative singular form of открытка (a greeting card / postcard).

Nominative (dictionary form): открытка
Accusative (direct object): открытку

The verb закончить (“to finish”) takes a direct object in the accusative case: “finish what?” → открытку.

What exactly does открытка mean here – is it “postcard” or “greeting card”?

Открытка generally means “postcard” or “greeting card” – any small illustrated card, especially one with a picture and some text.

Context decides:

Tourist postcard with a view: открытка
Birthday or holiday card: also открытка

In this sentence, it’s just “a (decorated) card”; both “card” and “postcard” would be reasonable translations depending on context, but the Russian word itself doesn’t force one or the other.

What does до вечера mean exactly, and how is it different from к вечеру or вечером?

All three are time expressions, but with different nuances:

до вечера – “by (until) evening,” not later than evening; deadline emphasis.
к вечеру – “by evening / towards evening,” closer to “by the time evening comes” or “around evening.”
вечером – “in the evening” (time when something happens).

In this sentence, до вечера stresses that her work must be completed no later than evening; it’s a strict time limit.

How does чтобы work here, and why is it followed by the infinitive успеть?

Чтобы introduces a purpose clause: “in order to / so that.”

There are two common patterns:

чтобы
- conjugated verb (often with a different subject):
- Она ушла пораньше, чтобы он успел на поезд. – She left early so that he would catch the train.
чтобы
- infinitive (often same subject, or more like “in order to”):
- Она ушла пораньше, чтобы успеть на поезд. – She left early in order to catch the train.

In your sentence, the artist (same subject) finishes the card in order to catch the train, so чтобы успеть is natural and compact.

What does успеть mean, and why is it perfective?

Успеть means “to manage to do something in time / to be in time for something.” It is perfective.

успеть на поезд – to catch the train / be in time for the train.
успевать на поезд – to (usually / habitually) make it to the train on time, or to be managing to catch it (process, repeated action).

Here, we are talking about a single concrete goal – making it to this specific train – so the perfective успеть is used to express achieving (or intending to achieve) that one-time result.

Why is it на поезд and not в поезд?

With most means of transport, Russian normally uses на + accusative to mean “to (catch / take) a vehicle”:

на поезд – to the train (to catch/take the train)
на автобус – to the bus
на самолёт – to the plane

в поезд would normally mean physically “into the train” (movement into the interior of the train) and is much less common in the meaning “to catch the train.” For “catching the train,” успеть на поезд is the standard phrase.

Why is it в порт and not на порт?

With locations like порт (port/harbor), Russian uses:

в порт (accusative) – motion into the port (“to the port”)
в порту (prepositional) – being in the port (“in the port”)

На порт is not used in this literal sense. На is used with some place nouns (e.g. на вокзал, на станцию, на работу), but порт pattern is в порт / в порту. So на поезд в порт = “for the train (that goes) to the port.”

Could we change the word order, for example …чтобы успеть в порт на поезд? How flexible is the word order?

Russian word order is relatively flexible, but not all permutations sound natural.

чтобы успеть на поезд в порт is the most natural: first “make it to the train,” then specify which train (the one to the port).
чтобы успеть в порт на поезд sounds odd, because it suggests first getting to the port, then to the train, which conflicts with the logical order of events.

You can move adverbials somewhat, but you generally keep на поезд close to успеть, because that is a stable phrase: успеть на поезд. Then в порт clarifies the destination of that train.

Can we just say Художница должна закончить… without была? What changes?

Yes, but the meaning changes in time:

Художница должна закончить открытку до вечера…
→ She must / is supposed to finish the card by evening… (obligation now, with the deadline in the (near) future).
Художница должна была закончить открытку до вечера…
→ She had to / was supposed to finish the card by evening… (this obligation existed in the past).

So была is what makes the obligation clearly past.

Does должна была imply that she actually finished the card or caught the train?

By itself, должна была does not say whether the obligation was fulfilled; it just states what she was supposed to do.

Context decides:

If you stop at this sentence, it is neutral: we only know what her obligation/plan was.
To indicate failure, Russian often adds something like но не успела (“but she didn’t manage to”) or но не закончила (“but she didn’t finish”).

So from this one sentence alone, we cannot conclude whether she actually finished the card or caught the train; it only describes her intended task and purpose.

Could we use надо было or нужно было instead of должна была? What is the nuance?

You can say:

Художнице надо было закончить открытку…
Художнице нужно было закончить открытку…

Differences:

должна была – slightly stronger, more like a duty or clear obligation (from circumstances, rules, a plan).
надо было / нужно было – more neutral “it was necessary for her to…,” focusing on necessity, not on obligation.

Also note the case change:

Художница должна была… (subject in nominative).
Художнице надо было / нужно было… (dative: “it was necessary for the artist to…”).

All three are correct, but должна была puts a bit more weight on obligation than on simple necessity.

Why are both закончить and успеть perfective in the same sentence?

Both verbs describe actions with clear, one-time results tied to a deadline:

закончить открытку – to complete the card (reach the end state).
успеть на поезд – to successfully make it in time for the train.

Russian typically uses the perfective aspect for:

Single, completed actions.
Actions with a clear result or outcome.
Things that must be done by a certain time.

Since the sentence talks about finishing something by evening in order to catch a specific train, both verbs naturally appear in the perfective.