Breakdown of Президент хочет, чтобы они закончили официальные переговоры.
они
they
хотеть
to want
чтобы
in order to
президент
president
закончить
to finish (perfective)
переговоры
the negotiations
официальный
official
Questions & Answers about Президент хочет, чтобы они закончили официальные переговоры.
Why is закончили in the past tense if the president wants this to happen in the future?
This is the core rule of the чтобы structure when there are two different subjects. The president (Subject 1) wants them (Subject 2) to do something. In Russian, after чтобы, you must always use the past tense for the second verb, regardless of when the action actually takes place.
English uses an infinitive here (wants them to end). Can I just say хочет их закончить?
No, that would mean 'The president wants to finish them' (meaning the president is doing the finishing, and 'them' is the object being finished). When the person wanting the action is different from the person doing the action, Russian requires a two-part sentence: хочет, чтобы + Subject 2 + past tense verb.
Why use the perfective verb закончили instead of the imperfective заканчивали?
The president wants them to actually complete the negotiations and achieve a final result. Perfective verbs like закончили focus on the successful completion of an action. If we used the imperfective заканчивали, it would mean he wants them to spend time in the ongoing process of wrapping things up.
What case is официальные переговоры in?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb закончили (what are they ending?). Since переговоры (negotiations) is an inanimate noun, its accusative plural form looks exactly identical to its nominative plural dictionary form.
Learn Президент хочет, чтобы они закончили официальные переговоры and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free