Breakdown of Завтра крайний срок, и мы должны успеть сдать отчёт.
и
and
мы
we
завтра
tomorrow
должен
must, have to (должен, должна, должны)
Questions & Answers about Завтра крайний срок, и мы должны успеть сдать отчёт.
Why do we use the perfective infinitive сдать after успеть?
Успеть means "to manage to" or "to have time to." Because it is a verb of success or achievement, it is almost always followed by a perfective infinitive. You are talking about completing a specific result before the deadline, so we use the perfective сдать (to submit) rather than the imperfective сдавать.
What is the literal meaning of the phrase крайний срок?
It literally translates to "extreme term" or "edge period." Крайний means "extreme," "last," or "on the edge," and срок means a set "time period" or "term." Together, they make up the standard Russian expression for a "deadline."
Could we just say мы должны сдать отчёт without using успеть?
Yes, but it removes the focus on time. Мы должны сдать отчёт simply means "we must submit the report." Adding успеть connects directly to the deadline mentioned earlier, adding the important nuance of "we must manage to" or "we must have enough time to" submit the report.
Отчёт is the direct object of сдать. Why doesn't its ending change?
It is actually in the accusative case here! However, отчёт (report) is an inanimate masculine noun. For inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative case looks exactly the same as the nominative (dictionary) form.