Questions & Answers about Нам треба купити квитки на автобус до університету.
What does Нам треба mean, and why use нам instead of ми?
Нам треба literally means “to us is needed” and is the standard way to say “we need” in Ukrainian. The verb треба is impersonal, so the person who needs something is expressed in the dative case. Hence нам (dative “to us”) rather than ми (nominative “we”).
Why is купити in the infinitive form?
After треба, Ukrainian uses the infinitive to indicate the required action. So купити (“to buy”) follows треба just like English uses “need to …” rather than “need buys.”
Why are квитки in the accusative plural?
Квитки is the direct object (“tickets”) that you need to buy. In Ukrainian, inanimate nouns in the plural have the same form in nominative and accusative, but the case is still accusative because it answers “what do we need to buy?” → квитки.
What does на автобус mean, and why not use the instrumental автобусом?