Questions & Answers about Я не могу дочитать первый абзац.
How does the prefix до- change the meaning of читать here?
The prefix до- adds the meaning of completing an action right to its conclusion. While читать just means "to read", the perfective verb дочитать specifically means "to finish reading" or "to read all the way to the end."
After не могу (I cannot), shouldn't we use the imperfective aspect?
Not necessarily! Using the perfective дочитать here focuses on the inability to achieve a specific result. It means "I cannot manage to get to the end of it" (perhaps because the text is too boring or difficult). If you used the imperfective, it would sound more like you are physically unable or forbidden to engage in the reading process at all.
Why didn't the negation (не могу) force the direct object первый абзац into the genitive case?
The negation не is attached to the helper verb могу, not directly to the main action verb дочитать. Furthermore, in modern Russian, we typically stick to the accusative case for direct objects when they are specific, concrete inanimate things like первый абзац (the first paragraph), even in negative sentences.
Why does первый абзац look like it is in the nominative case if it is the direct object?
It is actually in the accusative case! Абзац (paragraph) is a masculine inanimate noun. For masculine inanimate nouns and their modifying adjectives, the accusative case form remains perfectly identical to the nominative case form.