Breakdown of Новый контракт действовал с две тысячи шестого до две тысячи девятого года, кроме периода строительства.
новый
new
два
two
год
year
тысяча
thousand
шестой
sixth
девятый
ninth
до
before, until
кроме
except
период
period
с
from (a starting point in time)
строительство
construction
контракт
contract (commercial, employment)
действовать
to be in effect
Questions & Answers about Новый контракт действовал с две тысячи шестого до две тысячи девятого года, кроме периода строительства.
Why do шестого and девятого end in -ого here?
To express a span of years, the prepositions с (from) and до (to/until) both require the Genitive case. For years, Russian uses ordinal numbers (like "sixth" and "ninth"). When a number has multiple words, only the very last word declines. So две тысячи (two thousand) stays in its base form, while the final digits take the Genitive masculine endings: шестого and девятого.
Why does the word года only appear after 2009, but not after 2006?
When expressing a range of years, it is standard to drop the word года after the first year to avoid repetition. The single года at the end applies to both numbers. It works exactly like saying "from 2006 to 2009" in English instead of "from the year 2006 to the year 2009".
Why are there two Genitive words in a row at the end: периода строительства?
They are in the Genitive case for two different reasons. The first word, периода, is Genitive because the preposition кроме (except) always requires it. The second word, строительства, is Genitive to translate the English "of"—making it "the period of construction". Chaining Genitives together like this is very common in Russian.
I learned that действовал means "acted". Why is it used for a contract?
The verb действовать literally means "to act", "to function", or "to operate". However, when used with official documents like laws, visas, tickets, or contracts, it translates to "to be valid" or "to be in effect". The imperfective past tense is used here because being in effect was an ongoing, continuous state over those three years.
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