Breakdown of Успешный бизнесмен может управлять компанией.
мочь
to be able to
компания
company
успешный
successful
бизнесмен
businessman
управлять
to manage (control, direct)
Questions & Answers about Успешный бизнесмен может управлять компанией.
Why is компанией in the Instrumental case here? I would expect a direct object to be in the Accusative.
In Russian, certain verbs require their object to be in a specific case other than the Accusative. The verb управлять (to manage, to direct, to control) is one of these—it always takes the Instrumental case. You will also see this with similar leadership verbs like руководить (to lead).
The dictionary form of the word for company is компания. Why does its Instrumental form end in -ей?
Feminine nouns ending in -я (like компания) take the soft ending -ей in the Instrumental case. This is the soft counterpart to the -ой ending used for regular feminine nouns ending in -а (for example, работа becomes работой).
Can управлять be used for other types of "managing" or "controlling"?
Yes! Управлять literally means "to steer" or "to control." While it's used for managing a business or organization, it's also the standard verb for driving or operating a vehicle, such as управлять машиной (to drive a car). In all of these contexts, the object being controlled must be in the Instrumental case.
Why is управлять in the infinitive form here instead of being conjugated?
It is in the infinitive because it follows the conjugated modal verb может (can / is able to). Whenever you use a modal verb to express ability, necessity, or desire, the main action verb that follows it remains in the infinitive, just like in English (can manage).
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