Breakdown of Кое-кто сомневался, но наша сплочённость спасла проект.
наш
our (наш, наша, наше)
но
but
проект
the project
кое-кто
someone (known to the speaker)
сомневаться
to doubt / to hesitate
спасти
to save (perfective)
сплочённость
the cohesion
Questions & Answers about Кое-кто сомневался, но наша сплочённость спасла проект.
Why use кое-кто instead of кто-то for "someone" here?
While кто-то just means an unknown "someone", the prefix кое- implies that the speaker actually knows exactly who they are talking about but is choosing not to name them. It translates roughly to "a certain someone" or "certain people".
Кое-кто can refer to multiple people. Why is the verb сомневался in the masculine singular?
How could we express the second half of this sentence using this lesson's target grammar, Если бы не?
You could say Если бы не наша сплочённость, проект бы провалился (If it weren't for our cohesion, the project would have failed). Notice that the noun phrase following Если бы не stays in the Nominative case, so наша сплочённость does not change its endings.
What is the root of the abstract noun сплочённость (cohesion)?
It is related to the adjective плотный (dense, tight) and comes directly from the verb сплотить (to unite or rally together). The suffix -ость is used to turn the descriptive form into an abstract noun, much like "-ness" in English.
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