Breakdown of Он купил этот словарь на двести рублей дешевле, чтобы сэкономить деньги.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
словарь
dictionary
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
деньги
money
рубль
ruble
купить
to buy (perfective)
чтобы
in order to
двести
two hundred
на
by (a difference in amount)
дешевле
cheaper
сэкономить
to save (money, resources)
Questions & Answers about Он купил этот словарь на двести рублей дешевле, чтобы сэкономить деньги.
Why do we use на before двести рублей here?
In Russian, to express by how much something differs (cheaper, more expensive, older, etc.), we use the preposition на followed by the amount. It functions like the English 'by', so this literally translates to buying the dictionary cheaper by two hundred rubles.
Is the phrase двести рублей in the accusative case here?
Yes. When expressing a difference with на plus a comparative, the amount must be in the accusative case. For the inanimate numeral 200 (двести), the accusative form is identical to the nominative.
I always mix up the rules for numbers. Why does двести take the genitive plural рублей instead of the genitive singular рубля like the number 2 does?
While the number 2 (два) takes the genitive singular (два рубля), the hundreds behave differently. The numbers 200, 300, and 400 (двести, триста, четыреста) require the noun to be in the genitive plural. Hence, we say двести рублей.
Does the comparative дешевле have to come after the amount (на двести рублей)?
No, the word order is very flexible here. You could absolutely say дешевле на двести рублей. Placing the amount first just puts a slight stylistic emphasis on the exact sum of money he saved.
Why is the infinitive сэкономить used after чтобы instead of a conjugated verb?
When the subject of the main clause (he bought) is exactly the same as the subject of the purpose clause (he wants to save money), Russian uses чтобы + infinitive. You would only use a past-tense conjugated verb after чтобы if there were a change of subject (for example, 'He bought it so that we could save money').
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