Breakdown of Нам постоянно не хватает средств на этот проект.
не
not
мы
we
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
проект
the project
постоянно
constantly
на
for (a purpose or goal)
хватать
to suffice / to be enough
средство
the means / the fund
Questions & Answers about Нам постоянно не хватает средств на этот проект.
Why is "we" translated as the Dative нам instead of the Nominative мы?
The verb хватать (to suffice / be enough) is used in an impersonal construction. In Russian, you don't actively "lack" something; rather, something "is lacking to you." The person experiencing the lack is put in the Dative case (нам), and the verb stays in the third-person singular (хватает).
Why is the word for "funds" (средств) in the Genitive case?
The verb хватать (and its perfective pair хватить) always requires the Genitive case for the thing that is sufficient or lacking. Here, средств is the Genitive plural of средство. You can think of the literal translation as "To us, there is a constant lack of funds."
Why use the imperfective хватает instead of the perfective хватит?
The word постоянно (constantly) tells us this is an ongoing, habitual problem. Habitual actions require the imperfective aspect. If you were talking about a specific, one-time shortage (like "We won't have enough funds for tomorrow's event"), you would use the perfective future form не хватит.
Why do we use на этот проект (Accusative) instead of для этого проекта (Genitive) to mean "for this project"?
When talking about what resources (like time, money, or energy) are being spent on or allocated to, Russian strongly prefers the preposition на + Accusative. Using для + Genitive wouldn't be completely wrong, but it sounds more like "for the benefit of the project" rather than indicating what the funds are targeted at.
I know средство as "means" or "remedy." How does it mean "funds" here?
You're right about the core meaning! Средство generally means "means," "method," or "remedy" (like a cleaning or medical product). However, when used in the plural (средства) in a business, economic, or project context, it is the standard vocabulary for "funds," "assets," or "financial resources."
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