Breakdown of Из-за штрафа мы потеряли половину суммы.
мы
we
штраф
fine
потерять
to lose (perfective)
половина
half
Questions & Answers about Из-за штрафа мы потеряли половину суммы.
Why is суммы in the genitive case here?
In Russian, fraction words like половина (half), треть (a third), and четверть (a quarter) act like regular nouns. To say what they are a fraction of, you put the following noun in the genitive case. Here, суммы is the genitive form of сумма, so половину суммы literally means half of the sum.
Why does половина change to половину in this sentence?
Even though it represents a number, половина behaves grammatically like a standard feminine noun ending in -а. Because it is the direct object of the verb потеряли (what did we lose? half), it takes the accusative case, changing its ending from -а to -у.
Why is штраф (fine) written as штрафа?
The preposition из-за (because of) always requires the genitive case. Since штраф is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, it takes the -а ending in the genitive to become штрафа.
Can I use потому что instead of из-за to say 'because of'?
No, because потому что translates to 'because' and is used to connect two full clauses with their own subjects and verbs. Из-за is a preposition used directly in front of a noun to mean 'because of' or 'on account of'.
Why do we use the perfective verb here?