Начальница решительно сказала, что проект нужно закончить сегодня.

Начальница means female boss / female manager, while начальник is the masculine form.

Since the person speaking is a woman, Russian uses the feminine noun начальница. In modern Russian, this word is completely normal, though in some contexts people may still use начальник even for a woman, depending on style, workplace culture, or personal preference.

So here:

• начальница = a woman boss
• начальник = a man boss, or sometimes a boss in general

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with gender and number.

The subject here is начальница, which is feminine singular, so the verb must also be feminine singular:

• сказал = he said
• сказала = she said
• сказало = it said
• сказали = they said

So Начальница сказала literally means The female boss said.

Решительно is an adverb meaning something like firmly, decisively, or in a determined way.

It tells us how she spoke:

• Начальница решительно сказала = The boss said firmly / decisively

Its position before the verb is very natural in Russian, but word order is fairly flexible. You could also hear:

• Начальница сказала решительно...

That would still be understandable, though the original word order sounds very natural and emphasizes the manner of speaking early.

Russian normally places a comma before что when it introduces a subordinate clause.

Here the structure is:

• main clause: Начальница решительно сказала
• subordinate clause: что проект нужно закончить сегодня

So the comma separates:

• She said firmly from
• that the project needs to be finished today

This is a very standard Russian punctuation pattern.

Что here means that and introduces reported speech or a content clause.

So:

• сказала, что... = said that...

It connects the two parts:

• Начальница решительно сказала = The boss said firmly
• что проект нужно закончить сегодня = that the project needs to be finished today

This is different from English, where that is sometimes omitted. In Russian, что is very common in this structure.

Here проект is the direct object of закончить.

The verb закончить takes the accusative case:

• закончить что? = to finish what?
• проект

For an inanimate masculine noun like проект, the accusative singular is the same as the nominative singular. So the form stays проект.

Compare:

• nominative: проект
• accusative: проект

That is why you do not see a visible ending change here.

Нужно here means it is necessary, one must, or it needs to be.

This is an impersonal word used to express necessity. It does not agree with a person like a normal verb does.

So:

• нужно закончить проект = it is necessary to finish the project
• more naturally in English: the project needs to be finished

A key point: нужно often creates a sentence where the person responsible is not explicitly named. Russian leaves it general.

The sentence does not explicitly say who must finish it. That is normal.

The structure нужно закончить is impersonal, so it focuses on the necessity of the action, not on the doer.

Depending on context, it could mean:

• we need to finish the project today
• you need to finish the project today
• the project needs to be finished today

Russian often uses this kind of construction when the responsible person is obvious from context or not important to mention.

This is about verbal aspect.

• закончить = perfective, to finish / bring to completion
• заканчивать = imperfective, to be finishing / to finish in a general or repeated sense

Here the sentence is about achieving a completed result by today. That is why Russian uses the perfective infinitive закончить.

The idea is:

• not just to work on the project
• but to complete it

So проект нужно закончить сегодня means the project must be fully finished today.

Сегодня means today, and placing it at the end is very natural because it gives the deadline at the end of the statement.

Russian word order is flexible, so you could also say:

• Сегодня проект нужно закончить
• Проект сегодня нужно закончить

These versions shift emphasis slightly:

• Сегодня... emphasizes the time first
• Проект... emphasizes the project first
• ...сегодня leaves the time as the final important point

The original version sounds neutral and natural.

Yes, in many contexts нужно and надо are close in meaning.

You could say:

• ...что проект надо закончить сегодня

This would also mean that the project needs to be finished today.

A rough difference:

• нужно can sound a bit more neutral or formal
• надо can sound a bit more conversational

But in everyday Russian, both are very common, and the difference is often small.

Because this sentence reports what the boss said as a statement, not as a purpose or desired action clause.

• сказала, что... = said that...
• сказала, чтобы... = said for someone to... / told someone to...

Your sentence:

• Начальница решительно сказала, что проект нужно закончить сегодня. means she stated that the project had to be finished today.

If you used чтобы, the meaning would shift toward an instruction directed at someone:

• Начальница решительно сказала, чтобы проект закончили сегодня. = The boss firmly said that the project should be finished today / told them to finish the project today

So что is the right choice for simple reported content.

Yes, it is natural and grammatically correct.

It sounds like standard written or spoken Russian and means something like:

• The female boss said firmly that the project needed to be finished today.

It is especially natural because:

• начальница matches the speaker’s gender
• сказала correctly agrees in the past tense
• что introduces the reported clause
• нужно закончить expresses necessity efficiently
• сегодня gives the deadline clearly

So this is a very good example of normal Russian sentence structure.