Breakdown of Мы будем начинать отсчёт без пяти двенадцать, чтобы не нервничать во время посадки.
не
not
мы
we
пять
five
быть
to be
начинать
to begin
без
without
двенадцать
twelve
чтобы
in order to
во время
during
посадка
boarding
нервничать
to be nervous
отсчёт
countdown
Questions & Answers about Мы будем начинать отсчёт без пяти двенадцать, чтобы не нервничать во время посадки.
Why isn't there a word for "at" before без пяти двенадцать?
When using без (without) to express minutes to the hour, you don't use the preposition в (at). The phrase itself handles both "It is five to twelve" and "At five to twelve". You are literally saying "without five twelve".
Why is the number five written as пяти here?
The preposition без always requires the genitive case. For numbers 5 through 30 that end in a soft sign (-ь), the genitive form ends in -и. So, пять becomes пяти. Notice that the upcoming hour (двенадцать) stays in its dictionary form (nominative case).
Why use the imperfective будем начинать instead of the perfective начнём for "we will start"?
Using the imperfective future emphasizes the process or a planned, ongoing routine rather than a single, pinpointed action. It gives the sentence the feeling of "we will be getting the countdown underway" as a scheduled activity.
Why is нервничать in the infinitive here? Don't we need to conjugate it?
Because of чтобы (in order to / so that). When the subject of the main action (we start the countdown) is the exact same as the subject of the second action (we don't get nervous), you simply use чтобы followed directly by an infinitive verb.
Why does the word for boarding, посадка, change to посадки?
The phrase во время means "during" or literally "in the time of". Because you are essentially saying "the time OF boarding", the noun that follows must be in the genitive case. Therefore, the feminine noun посадка changes to посадки.
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