Breakdown of Она начинает распоряжаться капиталом.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
начинать
to begin
распоряжаться
to control (to direct, give orders)
капитал
capital
Questions & Answers about Она начинает распоряжаться капиталом.
Why is капиталом in the Instrumental case?
The verb распоряжаться (to manage, dispose of, or command) requires the object being managed to be in the Instrumental case. This is a common pattern for Russian verbs dealing with possession, control, or management, similar to владеть (to own) and управлять (to manage or steer).
How does распоряжаться differ from управлять, since both mean 'to manage' and use the Instrumental case?
While управлять focuses on directing, steering, or running the operations of something (like a business, process, or vehicle), распоряжаться focuses on having the authority to allocate or dispose of resources. It means making decisions about how things like money, property, or time are actually used.
Could I use the perfective verb распорядиться instead of распоряжаться here?
No, you cannot. In Russian, phasal verbs—which are verbs that indicate the beginning, continuation, or end of an action (like начинать, продолжать, and заканчивать)—must always be followed by an imperfective infinitive. Therefore, начинает requires the imperfective распоряжаться.
Because распоряжаться ends in -ся, isn't it an intransitive verb that cannot take an object?