Breakdown of Сегодня он должен сделать десять тысяч шагов.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
десять
ten
сегодня
today
сделать
to do (perfective) / to make (perfective)
должен
must, have to (должен, должна, должны)
тысяча
thousand
шаг
step
Questions & Answers about Сегодня он должен сделать десять тысяч шагов.
Why is it тысяч instead of the normal word тысяча?
Because of the number rule for 5 and above! The number десять (ten) requires the following word to be in the genitive plural. The word тысяча is grammatically a feminine noun, so following the rule for 10, it changes to its genitive plural form: тысяч.
Why is the word for steps, шагов, also in the genitive plural?
In Russian, the word тысяча (thousand) acts a bit like a regular noun meaning 'a thousand of something'. Because of this, the things being counted after it always go into the genitive plural. So whether it is one thousand or ten thousand, you use шагов (the genitive plural of шаг).
The English translation says 'take' steps, but doesn't сделать mean 'to do' or 'to make'?
Yes! In Russian, you don't 'take' a step, you 'make' a step (сделать шаг). We use the perfective verb сделать here because it refers to completing a specific result (reaching the goal of 10,000 steps) rather than just the ongoing process of walking.
Why is должен used here instead of надо or нужно?
Должен means 'must' or 'obliged to'. Unlike надо and нужно, which require the person to be in the dative case (ему нужно - 'to him it is necessary'), должен acts like an adjective. It takes a normal nominative subject, which is why we use он должен (he must).
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