Breakdown of Они не могут идти в музей, потому что работают.
не
not
они
they
музей
museum
работать
to work
потому что
because
в
in / to (direction)
идти
to go (on foot) / to proceed, go (of a process)
мочь
to be able to
Questions & Answers about Они не могут идти в музей, потому что работают.
I know почему means "why". Can I use it here to mean "because"?
No. In Russian, почему is strictly a question word meaning "why". When you want to say "because" to give a reason, you must use потому что, just like in this sentence.
Is the comma before потому что required?
Yes! In Russian, you must always put a comma before joining words like потому что (because), что (that), and но (but) when they connect two parts of a sentence.
Why does the sentence use идти (to walk/go) instead of ехать (to ride/drive)?
Using идти implies they were planning to go to the museum on foot or that it is located within the same general area. If they were planning to travel by car, bus, or train, the sentence would use ехать.
Why doesn't the word музей change its ending here? Doesn't the Accusative case usually change endings for destinations?
You are right that going to a destination requires the Accusative case. However, for masculine inanimate objects (things and places, not people or animals) like музей, the Accusative form is exactly the same as the standard dictionary form.
Why is there no они (they) before работают (are working)?
Russian often drops the pronoun in the second half of a sentence if the person doing the action hasn't changed. The verb ending in работают already clearly signals "they are working," so repeating они is unnecessary.
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