Breakdown of Этот проект существовал с две тысячи пятого до две тысячи семнадцатого года, кроме периода кризиса.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
два
two
год
year
проект
the project
Questions & Answers about Этот проект существовал с две тысячи пятого до две тысячи семнадцатого года, кроме периода кризиса.
Why do we only change the last word of the year in две тысячи пятого?
In Russian, years are expressed as ordinal numbers (like 'the two thousand and fifth year'). When changing the case of a compound ordinal number, only the very last word changes. So, две тысячи stays exactly the same, and only пятый changes to its genitive form пятого because of the preposition с (from).
Why does the word года (year) only appear after 2017 instead of after both years?
You could absolutely say с две тысячи пятого года до..., but it is much more natural and common to drop the first года to avoid repeating yourself.
Why are both периода and кризиса in the genitive case at the end of the sentence?
The preposition кроме (except) always forces the following noun into the genitive case, which gives us периода. Then, кризиса is also in the genitive to act like the English word 'of', meaning 'of crisis'. This creates a chain: 'except' + 'period' [Genitive] + 'of crisis' [Genitive].
Why use the imperfective verb существовал (existed) if the project's existence is a completed event in the past?
The imperfective aspect is used here because the sentence focuses on the continuous duration of the action over a specific span of time (from 2005 to 2017), rather than just the single completed fact of its existence.