Breakdown of Кроме директора, никто не видит в этом никакого смысла.
не
not
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
в
in / to (direction)
видеть
to see
директор
director
никто
nobody
кроме
except
никакой
not any / no kind of
смысл
sense / point (meaning)
Questions & Answers about Кроме директора, никто не видит в этом никакого смысла.
Why is никакого used here instead of the dictionary form никакой?
It is in the genitive case to match смысла. In Russian, when a verb is negated (like не видит), the direct object often takes the genitive case instead of the accusative. This is known as the genitive of negation.
The English translation says 'any sense', so why do we use the negative word никакого?
Russian requires negative agreement, often called a double or triple negative. Because the sentence already has a negative subject (никто) and a negated verb (не видит), any attached pronouns must also be negative. You literally have to say 'nobody does not see no sense'.
Why is the word for director in the genitive case (директора)?
The preposition кроме (besides / except) always forces the noun or pronoun that immediately follows it into the genitive case.
Why do we use в этом instead of в это?
When talking about seeing meaning or sense 'in' something, the preposition в indicates an abstract location, so it is followed by the prepositional case. этом is the prepositional form of это.
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