Questions & Answers about У нас мало времени на эти семена.
Why does время change to времени here?
The word мало (little/not much) requires the noun following it to be in the genitive case. For special neuter nouns ending in -мя like время, the genitive singular is formed by adding the suffix -ен- to the root, followed by the genitive ending -и. So, время becomes времени.
Is семена (seeds) also one of these special -мя nouns?
Yes! The singular word for 'seed' is семя, which is another neuter noun ending in -мя. Just like время, it uses the -ен- stem when it changes forms. To make it plural, we use the extended stem семен- and add the standard neuter plural ending -а, giving us семена.
What case is эти семена in?
It is in the accusative case. The preposition на takes the accusative when you are talking about spending or allocating time, money, or effort on or for something (время на... = time for...). Because семена is an inanimate plural noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its nominative form.
Could I use для instead of на for 'for'?
You could grammatically say для этих семян (using the genitive plural of семя), but when talking about setting aside time or resources for a specific purpose, Russian strongly prefers на + accusative. It translates more closely to having time to spend 'on' these seeds.