Breakdown of Этот банкомат не даёт меньше ста долларов.
не
not
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
давать
to give (imperfective)
сто
one hundred
Questions & Answers about Этот банкомат не даёт меньше ста долларов.
Why is it ста долларов instead of сто долларов?
After a comparative word like меньше (less) or больше (more), Russian uses the Genitive case to mean 'than'. So меньше ста долларов literally translates to 'less than a hundred dollars'.
Why does the number 100 change to ста here?
The number 100 (сто) has a very simple declension pattern. It remains сто in the Nominative and Accusative cases, but it changes to ста for all other cases (Genitive, Dative, Instrumental, and Prepositional). Because the comparative меньше requires the Genitive case, we must use ста.
This lesson focuses on using один for 'only'. Could I use it here to say the ATM gives 'only' 100 dollars?
Not with the exact number amount. If you want to say the amount is strictly $100, you must use только: даёт только сто долларов. However, if you want to express that the ATM gives 'nothing but' hundred-dollar bills, you would use the plural form одни: Этот банкомат даёт одни стодолларовые купюры.
Is даёт the normal verb to use for a machine dispensing money?