Breakdown of Взрослым спортсменам нужно восемьсот граммов углеводов.
взрослый
adult
грамм
gram
нужен
needed (нужен, нужна, нужны)
спортсмен
athlete
восемьсот
eight hundred
углевод
carbohydrate
Questions & Answers about Взрослым спортсменам нужно восемьсот граммов углеводов.
Since we are learning oblique cases of hundreds, why is восемьсот in its basic Nominative form here?
The word нужно (is necessary) requires the person needing something to be in the Dative case, but the thing being needed acts as the grammatical subject in the Nominative case. Because 800 grams is the subject here, восемьсот stays in the Nominative. If the sentence used a Genitive trigger, like 'less than 800 grams', it would change to the oblique form восьмисот.
Why are adult athletes (взрослым спортсменам) in the Dative case instead of the Nominative?
This sentence uses the impersonal нужно construction. In Russian, instead of saying 'Athletes need...', you literally say 'To athletes [it] is necessary...'. The person experiencing the need is the indirect object and must be in the Dative case.
Why does the sentence use the neuter нужно instead of the plural нужны for 800 grams?
When the grammatical subject is a combined quantity (a number plus a noun), Russian often defaults to neuter singular agreement for verbs and short adjectives. Both нужно and нужны are technically acceptable here, but the neuter нужно is preferred when treating the 800 grams as one single, measurable amount.
Why is it граммов and not just грамм?
After numbers ending in 5 through 0, the following noun must be in the Genitive plural. The strict standard Genitive plural of грамм is граммов. You will often hear native speakers use грамм as a zero-ending plural in casual speech, but граммов is the grammatically correct written form.
Why is углеводов (carbohydrates) also in the Genitive plural?
This creates a chain of Genitive cases. The first Genitive plural (граммов) is triggered by the number 800. The second Genitive plural (углеводов) translates to 'of carbohydrates', describing exactly what the grams consist of.
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