Breakdown of Мы разговаривали об этой проблеме вместо нового проекта.
мы
we
новый
new
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
о
about (о, об, обо)
проблема
problem
проект
the project
разговаривать
to talk
вместо
instead of
Questions & Answers about Мы разговаривали об этой проблеме вместо нового проекта.
Why is it нового проекта here?
The preposition вместо (instead of) always requires the Genitive case. The masculine noun проект adds -а to become проекта, and the adjective новый takes the masculine Genitive ending -ого to become нового.
Would it be wrong to say вместо о новом проекте to match the case of об этой проблеме?
Yes, that would be incorrect. Even though этой проблеме is in the Prepositional case (because it follows об), the phrase following вместо must always be in the Genitive case. In Russian, you don't repeat the original preposition or match its case after вместо.
Why do we use об instead of just о?
You use об when the next word begins with a vowel (а, э, и, о, у). Because этой starts with э, о changes to об to make the pronunciation smoother.
Why use the imperfective verb разговаривали instead of a perfective verb like поговорили?
разговаривать means to converse or to be talking. It focuses on the ongoing process or the activity of having a conversation. If you wanted to emphasize that the conversation was a single, completed event with a result, you would use the perfective verb поговорили (we had a talk).
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