Breakdown of Они не хотят соглашаться, однако мы должны договориться.
не
not
мы
we
они
they
хотеть
to want
должен
must, have to (должен, должна, должны)
договориться
to come to an agreement / to arrange
однако
however
соглашаться
to agree (imperfective)
Questions & Answers about Они не хотят соглашаться, однако мы должны договориться.
What is the difference between однако and но in this sentence?
Однако means however and introduces a strong contrast. It feels a bit more formal or deliberate than the simple word но (but), though you could use either here. When однако connects two parts of a sentence like this, it acts as a conjunction and needs a comma before it.
Both соглашаться and договориться are translated as agree. What is the difference between them?
Соглашаться means to say yes, to yield, or to concede to someone else's idea. Договориться shares a root with говорить (to speak) and means to reach a mutual agreement or to negotiate a deal together. They don't want to concede (соглашаться), but we still have to figure out a mutual deal (договориться).
Why is соглашаться imperfective but договориться is perfective here?
After negated verbs of desire like не хотят (they don't want), Russian frequently uses the imperfective aspect (соглашаться) to show they reject the very idea or process of agreeing. In the second half, we need to successfully achieve a specific result (reach an agreement once and for all), so the perfective договориться is required after должны.
Why is должны used instead of a normal verb for must?
In Russian, must or obliged to is expressed with the short adjective должен. Because мы (we) is plural, the adjective takes the plural ending, becoming должны. While it translates to an English verb, it is grammatically an adjective describing our state of obligation.
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