Breakdown of Компьютер сломался, мне нужна отвёртка.
компьютер
computer
мне
to me
нужен
needed (нужен, нужна, нужны)
сломаться
to break down (pf) / to break
отвёртка
screwdriver
Questions & Answers about Компьютер сломался, мне нужна отвёртка.
Why is it нужна and not нужен or нужно here?
The short adjective нужен must agree in gender and number with the thing being needed, not with the person who needs it. Since отвёртка (screwdriver) is a feminine noun, we use the feminine form нужна.
Why do we use мне instead of я?
When expressing personal necessity with нужен, the person who needs the item takes the dative case. A helpful way to think of this construction is translating it literally: "To me (мне), a screwdriver is necessary (нужна)."
Why does the verb сломался have the reflexive -ся ending?
We use the reflexive verb сломаться to show that the computer broke on its own, or because we aren't specifying who broke it. If you used the non-reflexive сломал, it would mean the computer actively broke something else!
Could I change the word order and say отвёртка нужна мне?
Russian word order is flexible, but мне нужна отвёртка is the most neutral and natural way to say this. If you put мне at the very end (отвёртка нужна мне), it places heavy emphasis on the person, meaning "I am the one who needs the screwdriver (not someone else)."
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