Breakdown of Министр требует, чтобы мы начали переговоры.
мы
we
чтобы
in order to
требовать
to demand
начать
to begin (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Министр требует, чтобы мы начали переговоры.
Why is начали in the past tense if the English translation says we 'begin' the negotiations?
This is the main rule for sentences where one person wants another person to do something. Because the subjects are different (the minister and we), you must use чтобы followed by the past tense verb начали, even though the action is actually in the future.
Why does this sentence use чтобы instead of что? Both can translate to 'that' in English.
Verbs that express a demand, request, or wish, like требует (demands), require чтобы. If you used что, it would mean the minister is just stating a fact (like 'The minister points out that we began...'), rather than trying to make an action happen.
Is начали perfective or imperfective?
It is the perfective past tense (from the infinitive начать). The perfective aspect is used here because the minister is demanding a specific, one-time result: getting the negotiations started, rather than the ongoing process of starting them.
What case is переговоры in here?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb начали. For inanimate plural nouns like переговоры (negotiations), the accusative form looks exactly the same as the nominative dictionary form.