Word
Мне нужно сдать отчёт директору до обеда.
Meaning
I need to hand in the report to the director before lunch.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Мне нужно сдать отчёт директору до обеда.
Why does it start with Мне, not Я? Does Мне нужно... literally mean to me it is necessary?
Yes. Мне нужно... is a very common Russian way to say I need to..., and it’s built as:
- мне = to me (dative case)
- нужно = necessary / needed (a “category of state” word)
- an infinitive: сдать (to submit/hand in)
Russian often expresses “need” impersonally (it is necessary for me), so Я is not required here.
What case is мне, and how do I know it’s dative?
Мне is the dative singular form of я.
- Nominative: я
- Dative: мне
You can recognize it because нужно/надо/можно/нельзя frequently take a dative experiencer: мне нужно, ему нельзя, нам можно, etc.
What exactly is нужно grammatically—an adjective, an adverb, or something else?