Learn Russian: Обе стороны хотят решить проблему.

Обе стороны хотят решить проблему.

Both sides want to solve the problem.

Breakdown of Обе стороны хотят решить проблему.

Questions & Answers about Обе стороны хотят решить проблему.

Why do we use обе here instead of оба?

Оба and обе both mean "both", but they change depending on the gender of the noun. We use оба for masculine and neuter nouns, and обе for feminine nouns. Since сторона (side) is a feminine noun, we must use обе.

What case is стороны in, and why?

It is in the Genitive singular. Just like the numbers 2, 3, and 4, the quantifiers оба and обе (when they are in the Nominative case) require the following noun to be in the Genitive singular. Therefore, сторона becomes стороны.

If стороны is Genitive singular, why is the verb хотят in the plural?

Even though the noun itself is grammatically singular to satisfy the rule for обе, the entire phrase обе стороны logically represents multiple things (two sides). Because the subject refers to more than one entity, the verb takes the plural form хотят.

Why use the perfective verb решить here instead of the imperfective решать?

Using the perfective решить shows that they want to achieve a specific result: getting the problem completely solved. If we used the imperfective решать, it would imply they just want to work on or spend time dealing with the problem, without necessarily emphasizing reaching the final solution.