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Questions & Answers about Денег не хватило.
In this sentence, why do we use the perfective verb хватило instead of its imperfective partner?
The perfective aspect is used here because it describes a completed event with a clear result. The perfective хватило tells us about a single, specific occasion where the money fell short. If we used the imperfective хватало, it would mean the money was repeatedly not enough on a regular basis.
Why does the sentence use денег instead of the dictionary form деньги?
Денег is the genitive plural form. The verb хватить (to be enough) always requires the thing being measured to be in the genitive case. You can think of the Russian phrasing as saying there was not enough of money.
Since деньги is plural, why does the past tense verb хватило end in -о (the neuter singular ending)?
Verbs only take a plural ending if their subject is in the nominative case. Because the word for money is forced into the genitive case (денег), this sentence has no grammatical subject. When a Russian sentence lacks a nominative subject, past tense verbs always default to the neuter singular -о ending.