Breakdown of Следователю некуда спешить, после того как он арестовал преступника.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
спешить
to hurry
преступник
criminal
некуда
nowhere to (there is nowhere to)
после того как
after (conjunction)
следователь
the investigator
арестовать
to arrest
Questions & Answers about Следователю некуда спешить, после того как он арестовал преступника.
Why is the comma placed before после того как rather than before как?
после того как is a compound conjunction meaning 'after' that introduces a temporal subordinate clause. In Russian, you must always separate clauses with a comma. The comma usually goes before the entire conjunction, right after the main clause, though it can sometimes split the conjunction if you want to heavily emphasize the word 'after'.
Why is the word for 'investigator' in the dative case (следователю)?
The first half of the sentence uses an impersonal construction. To say 'there is nowhere for someone to hurry', Russian puts the person experiencing this state in the dative case (следователю) and combines it with a special negative word and an infinitive verb (спешить).
Could I use никуда instead of некуда in this sentence?
No, because they function differently. некуда (stress on the first syllable) means 'nowhere to' and is used exactly like this: with a dative subject and an infinitive, without an extra negative word. никуда just means 'nowhere' as a destination and requires a regular subject and a negated verb, as in следователь никуда не спешит (the investigator is not hurrying anywhere).
Why do we use the perfective past tense арестовал alongside the present-tense idea of having nowhere to hurry?
The conjunction после того как highlights that one action finished before the next situation applies. арестовал is perfective past because the arrest is a fully completed, successful action. Because he finished this task, his current ongoing state is that he has nowhere to hurry (спешить, imperfective).
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