Breakdown of Десятого марта 2000-го года мы праздновали основание компании и назначали нового директора.
и
and
мы
we
новый
new
год
year
директор
director
март
March
компания
company
праздновать
to celebrate
десятый
tenth
двухтысячный
two thousandth
основание
foundation
назначать
to appoint
Questions & Answers about Десятого марта 2000-го года мы праздновали основание компании и назначали нового директора.
Why are all the words in the date (Десятого марта 2000-го года) in the Genitive case?
In Russian, when you state that an event happened on a specific full date (day, month, and year), the entire date takes the Genitive case. You do not need a preposition like the English "on"; the Genitive case endings alone carry the meaning of "on the [day] of [month] of [year]".
How exactly do you say "2000-го" here, and why does it have that ending?
It is pronounced as двухтысячного. Russian treats years as ordinal numbers (first, second, etc.), so the year 2000 is literally the "2000th" year (двухтысячный). Since the whole date must be in the Genitive case, the ending changes to -ого (двухтысячного). The -го attached to the number is a shortcut to remind you of this Genitive ending.
Why are the verbs праздновали and назначали imperfective?
The imperfective aspect is used here to describe the ongoing process or the atmosphere of the day (translated as "were celebrating" and "were appointing"). If you used the perfective verbs (отпраздновали and назначили), it would change the meaning to emphasize a completed sequence of events: "we finished celebrating, and then we appointed".
Why does the direct object нового директора look like it is in the Genitive case?
It is actually in the Accusative case! For masculine, animate nouns (representing people or animals, like a director), the Accusative case endings exactly match the Genitive case endings. This rule applies to both the noun (директора) and any adjectives describing it (нового).
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