Мы опаздываем в аэропорт, нам некогда спорить.
We are late for the airport, we have no time to argue.
Breakdown of Мы опаздываем в аэропорт, нам некогда спорить.
мы
we
в
in / to (direction)
спорить
to argue
опаздывать
to be late
Questions & Answers about Мы опаздываем в аэропорт, нам некогда спорить.
Why do we use the Dative case нам instead of the Nominative мы in the second half of the sentence?
The word некогда (there is no time) is a predicative negative adverb. In these constructions, the person experiencing the lack of time is the logical subject and must be in the Dative case. Russian literally says "to us there is no time to argue."
How is некогда different from никогда?
They are easy to mix up but have different meanings and stresses. некогда means "there is no time" and is always stressed on the first syllable. никогда means "never", is stressed on the last syllable, and requires another negative word in the sentence, like мы никогда не спорим (we never argue).
English says "late FOR the airport." Why does Russian use в + Accusative here?
In Russian, the verb опаздывать (to be late) is treated as an action directed toward a destination. Because you are heading to the airport, it takes the directional в + Accusative case, almost as if saying "we are running late into the airport."
Could we use the perfective verb опоздаем instead of the imperfective опаздываем here?
Not without changing the meaning. The imperfective опаздываем means "we are currently running late" (an ongoing process in the present). If you used the perfective опоздаем, it would shift to the future tense meaning "we will be late" (a completed future result).