Breakdown of Никто не может починить эту сломанную машину.
не
not
машина
car
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
мочь
to be able to
никто
nobody
починить
to fix
сломать
to break (snap, damage, machines)
Questions & Answers about Никто не может починить эту сломанную машину.
How is the participle сломанную formed?
It comes from the perfective verb сломать (to break). To form this full-form past passive participle, we drop the -ть from the infinitive, add the suffix -нн-, and then attach an adjective ending. Because it modifies the feminine accusative noun машину, it takes the ending -ую.
Why do we need не before может when никто already means "no one"?
Russian requires a double negative. Whenever you use a negative pronoun like никто (no one) or ничего (nothing) in a sentence, you must also place не directly before the verb.
Why use the perfective verb починить here instead of the imperfective чинить?
The speaker is talking about the ability to successfully complete the action and achieve a result (a working car). After the verb мочь (can / to be able to), we use a perfective infinitive when focusing on the successful completion of a single action.
Why are эту, сломанную, and машину all in the accusative case?
The verb починить (to fix) takes a direct object, which requires the accusative case. The feminine noun машина changes to машину, and its modifiers эта (this) and сломанная (broken) must agree with it in gender, number, and case, changing to эту and сломанную.
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