Breakdown of Мы не можем начинать проект, потому что мало организаторов.
не
not
мы
we
потому что
because
мало
little
мочь
to be able to
проект
the project
начинать
to begin
организатор
organizer
Questions & Answers about Мы не можем начинать проект, потому что мало организаторов.
Why does организатор (organizer) end in -ов here?
This is the genitive plural form. Words that express quantity, like мало (few/not enough), много (many/a lot), and сколько (how many), force the following noun into the genitive case. Because организатор is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, its genitive plural adds -ов.
Does мало always translate to "few"?
Why doesn't проект change its ending since it is the direct object being started?
It is actually in the accusative case here because it is the direct object! However, for inanimate (non-living) masculine nouns like проект, the accusative case looks exactly the same as the nominative (dictionary) form.
Why use the imperfective начинать instead of the perfective начать?
You could actually use either here! Using the imperfective начинать emphasizes the process of getting the project underway. If you used the perfective начать, it would focus more on the result of successfully kicking it off. With a negative phrase like не можем (we cannot), the imperfective is very common to express that we can't even get the process going.
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