Breakdown of Почему ты откладываешь работу, которую мы обсуждали?
ты
you (singular)
мы
we
работа
work, job
почему
why
Questions & Answers about Почему ты откладываешь работу, которую мы обсуждали?
Why is которую in the accusative case here?
The relative pronoun который takes its gender and number from the noun it replaces (работа, feminine singular). However, it takes its case from its grammatical role in its own part of the sentence. Here, it is the direct object of обсуждали (we discussed which), so it must be in the accusative case, которую.
Why use the imperfective past обсуждали rather than the perfective обсудили?
Using the imperfective обсуждали points to the simple fact that a discussion took place in the past, or it focuses on the ongoing process of talking. If you used the perfective обсудили, it would emphasize that the discussion was completely finished and a final conclusion was reached.
How does the prefix in откладываешь create the meaning of postponing?
The verb is based on the imperfective root for putting or laying (класть). The prefix от- often signifies movement away or setting something aside. Therefore, откладывать literally means to put something aside, which translates perfectly to putting off or postponing a task.
If we wanted to say you put off every kind of work we discussed, could we add всякую or каждую before работу?