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Нам удалось договориться о встрече, и вечером мы спокойно обсудили проект.

Нам удалось договориться о встрече, и вечером мы спокойно обсудили проект.
We managed to agree on a meeting time, and in the evening we calmly discussed the project.

Breakdown of Нам удалось договориться о встрече, и вечером мы спокойно обсудили проект.

и
and
мы
we
спокойно
calmly
вечером
in the evening
проект
the project
обсудить
to discuss
встреча
the meeting
договориться о
to agree on
удаться
to manage
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Questions & Answers about Нам удалось договориться о встрече, и вечером мы спокойно обсудили проект.

Why does it say Нам удалось... instead of Мы удалось... or Мы смогли...?

Нам удалось + infinitive is an impersonal construction meaning we managed to... / we succeeded in...

  • нам is dative (“to us”), marking the people for whom the success happened.
  • удалось is past neuter because there is no grammatical subject (it “worked out” / “it succeeded”).
    Compare:
  • Нам удалось договориться... = We managed (successfully).
  • Мы смогли договориться... = We were able to (more neutral, ability/possibility).
  • Мы договорились... = We reached an agreement (states the result directly).
Why is удалось neuter singular? Shouldn’t it match нам?

No—нам is not the subject; it’s a dative experiencer. The verb удаться is often used impersonally, so it appears in the default form: past neuter singular (удалось).
You can think of it like: “It turned out successfully for us.”

What’s the difference between договориться and договариваться?

They’re an aspect pair:

  • договориться (perfective) = to reach an agreement (focus on the result: agreement achieved)
  • договариваться (imperfective) = to be negotiating / to come to agreements habitually (process or repeated action)

In your sentence, Нам удалось договориться... uses perfective because it’s about successfully reaching an agreement.

Why is it договориться о встрече and not договориться встречу?

Because договориться commonly takes the pattern договориться о + Prepositional when you mean agree about something / arrange something:

  • о встрече = “about the meeting” / “to meet (as an arranged meeting)”

Russian doesn’t use a direct object here the way English might. The topic/arrangement is expressed with о + prepositional.

What case is встрече and why?

встрече is prepositional case (also called locative in some contexts) because of the preposition о:

  • о (ком? чём?) → о встрече

So о встрече = “about a meeting / regarding a meeting.”

Why is there a comma before и?

Because the sentence is a compound sentence with two independent clauses: 1) Нам удалось договориться о встрече
2) вечером мы спокойно обсудили проект

In Russian, two full clauses joined by и are typically separated by a comma (unless they share a very tight common element and are short/simple enough to omit it—here, the comma is standard).

What’s the role of вечером and what form is it?

вечером means in the evening and functions as an adverbial of time. Formally, it’s the instrumental case of вечер used with a time meaning:

  • утром, днём, вечером, ночью

It answers когда? (“when?”).

Why is the word order и вечером мы спокойно обсудили проект? Could мы вечером... also work?

Yes, several word orders are possible. Word order mainly changes emphasis:

  • и вечером мы... emphasizes the time (“and in the evening, we…”)
  • и мы вечером... emphasizes we as the subject contrast (“and we, in the evening, …”)
  • и мы обсудили проект вечером can sound more like an afterthought (“…in the evening”)

Russian word order is flexible, but adverbs like вечером and спокойно often come early for framing.

What does спокойно imply here, and where can it go in the sentence?

спокойно means calmly / without stress / in a relaxed manner. It modifies обсудили (discussed).
Common positions:

  • мы спокойно обсудили проект (neutral)
  • мы обсудили проект спокойно (more emphasis on the calm manner)

The meaning stays similar; the nuance and emphasis shift slightly.

Why is обсудили perfective, and what would обсуждали change?

обсудили (perfective) means they discussed it and finished / covered it (a completed event).
If you use обсуждали (imperfective), it means they were discussing / discussed (process-focused, not necessarily completed):

  • вечером мы спокойно обсуждали проект = “in the evening we were calmly discussing the project” (no clear endpoint)
  • вечером мы спокойно обсудили проект = “in the evening we calmly discussed the project (to completion)”
Why is проект in this form? What case is it?

проект is accusative singular (for an inanimate masculine noun, accusative = nominative in form). It’s the direct object of обсудили:

  • обсудили (что?) проект = “discussed (what?) the project”