Breakdown of Ему не хватает мотивации, чтобы работать лучше.
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
работать
to work
чтобы
in order to
лучше
better
хватать
to suffice / to be enough
мотивация
the motivation
Questions & Answers about Ему не хватает мотивации, чтобы работать лучше.
Why is the subject 'He' translated as the Dative Ему instead of Он?
The verb хватать (to suffice / to be enough) is impersonal. In Russian, you don't say 'He lacks motivation.' Instead, the structure is closer to 'To him, there is not enough motivation.' The person experiencing the lack or sufficiency must always be in the Dative case, which is why Он becomes Ему.
Why is the word for motivation in the Genitive case (мотивации)?
The verbs хватать and хватить always require the thing that is lacking or sufficient to be in the Genitive case. You can easily remember this by thinking of the literal translation: 'There is not enough of motivation.'
Could we use the perfective verb хватит instead of the imperfective хватает here?
Only if you want to change the meaning to the future tense. The imperfective не хватает describes a general, ongoing state (he currently lacks motivation in general). If you used the perfective не хватит, it would mean 'he will not have enough motivation' for a specific, upcoming task.
Why do we use the conjunction чтобы before работать лучше?
Чтобы translates directly to 'in order to' or 'so that.' While you might sometimes hear native speakers drop it in very casual speech, using чтобы properly introduces a purpose clause. It clearly connects the main idea (the lack of motivation) to the specific goal that the motivation is needed for (working better).
Learn Ему не хватает мотивации, чтобы работать лучше and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free