Word
Он должен заканчивать работу вовремя.
Meaning
He must finish work on time.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Он должен заканчивать работу вовремя.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
работа
work, job
заканчивать
to finish
должен
must, have to (должен, должна, должны)
Questions & Answers about Он должен заканчивать работу вовремя.
Why is должен used here, and how does it work?
In Russian, должен acts like a verb meaning "must" or "have to," but it is actually a short-form adjective. This means it changes to match the gender and number of the subject. Because the subject is the masculine Он, we use the masculine form должен. If the subject were feminine, it would be должна.
Why use the imperfective verb заканчивать instead of the perfective закончить?
The imperfective verb заканчивать is used here because it describes a regular, repeated action or a general rule. It means he must finish work on time in general or every day. If we were talking about a one-time obligation, like finishing a specific project tomorrow, we would use the perfective закончить.
Why does the word for work end in -у here (работу)?
The word работу is the direct object of the verb заканчивать (what is he finishing? work), so it needs to be in the accusative case. The basic dictionary form is the feminine noun работа, and feminine nouns ending in -а change to -у in the accusative case.
Is the word вовремя related to the word for time?