Breakdown of Завтра нам нужно убрать комнату.
мы
we
комната
room
завтра
tomorrow
нужно
it is necessary
убрать
to clean (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Завтра нам нужно убрать комнату.
Why is убрать (perfective) used here instead of the imperfective убирать?
After modal words like нужно (it is necessary), you choose the verb aspect based on your focus. Here, the focus is on the final result: getting the room clean for tomorrow. Therefore, we use the perfective infinitive убрать. If you wanted to focus on the ongoing process of cleaning, you would use убирать.
Why does the sentence use нам instead of мы for 'we'?
Words expressing need, like нужно or надо, require the person who needs to do the action to be in the Dative case. Russian literally phrases this as 'to us it is necessary,' which is why мы (we) becomes нам (to us).
Why does the word комната change to комнату?
Комната (room) is a feminine noun. In this sentence, it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb убрать. This means it must be in the Accusative case, where the feminine -а ending changes to -у.
Could I put завтра at the end of the sentence instead?
Yes, Russian word order is very flexible. You could absolutely say Нам нужно убрать комнату завтра. Putting завтра (tomorrow) at the very beginning just places a little more emphasis on the time frame.
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