Breakdown of Нам надо успеть заплатить налог.
нам
to us
надо
must, need to
успеть
to manage
заплатить
to pay
налог
tax
Questions & Answers about Нам надо успеть заплатить налог.
Why is 'We need' translated as Нам надо instead of starting with Мы?
In Russian, obligation is often expressed impersonally. The literal translation is closer to 'To us it is necessary...' Because of this, the person who needs to do the action is put in the Dative case (нам), not the Nominative case (мы).
The translation says 'manage to,' but doesn't успеть usually mean something about time?
Exactly! Успеть specifically means 'to have enough time to do something' or 'to make it in time.' So here, успеть заплатить really means 'to manage to pay before the deadline.'
Is it normal to have two infinitives in a row like успеть заплатить right after надо?
Yes, you can stack them! Надо requires an infinitive (успеть), and успеть itself also takes an infinitive to say what you have time to do (заплатить). They link together like a chain: 'necessary' -> 'to have time' -> 'to pay'.
Why are both verbs in the perfective aspect here?
Because the focus is on successfully completing these actions. You need the result of making it in time (успеть) and the result of the tax being fully paid (заплатить). If you used imperfective verbs, it would sound like you need to focus on the ongoing process of paying.
Why doesn't the word налог (tax) change its ending here? Isn't it the direct object?
It is the direct object, so it is in the Accusative case. However, налог is a masculine inanimate noun (it is not a living person or animal). For masculine inanimate nouns, the Accusative form looks exactly the same as the Nominative (dictionary) form.
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