Breakdown of Мы основали компанию в две тысячи втором году, и теперь у нас есть сильный конкурент.
и
and
мы
we
нас
us
у
at, by
есть
is, there is, to have
год
year
две
two (f)
в
on / during (a time period)
теперь
now (as opposed to before)
сильный
strong
компания
company
тысяча
thousand
второй
second
основать
to found
конкурент
the competitor (m)
Questions & Answers about Мы основали компанию в две тысячи втором году, и теперь у нас есть сильный конкурент.
Why is the word for year written as году here instead of годе?
When talking about a specific year using в (in), the word год (year) takes a special, irregular ending: -у. This is called the locative or "second prepositional" case. So, "in the year..." is always translated as в ... году.
In две тысячи втором, why does only втором change its ending?
When saying years in Russian, you use ordinal numbers (like "two thousand and second"). A key rule for compound numbers is that only the very last word changes its case. Here, две тысячи (two thousand) stays in its base form, and only второй (second) changes to the prepositional case втором to match году.
Why is "company" spelled компанию with a -ю at the end?
The dictionary form is компания, which is a feminine noun ending in -я. Because it is the direct object of the verb основали (founded) — it's the thing being founded — it needs to be in the accusative case. For feminine nouns ending in -я, the accusative ending is -ю.
Why use теперь for "now" instead of сейчас?
Can you remind me how у нас есть translates to "we have"?
Russian usually expresses "to have" by saying "by [someone] there is". У means "by" or "at", нас is "us" in the genitive case, and есть means "is" or "exists". So, у нас есть literally means "by us there is". The thing you have (сильный конкурент) is the grammatical subject of the sentence, so it stays in the nominative (dictionary) case.
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