Breakdown of Разве менеджеру не хватает компетенции для этой должности?
не
not
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
менеджер
manager
для
for
должность
position
разве
really?, surely not?
хватать
to suffice / to be enough
компетенция
the competence
Questions & Answers about Разве менеджеру не хватает компетенции для этой должности?
Why is the manager in the dative case (менеджеру) and competence in the genitive (компетенции)?
This uses the impersonal construction хватать / хватить (to suffice/be enough). The person experiencing the lack is in the dative case (менеджеру), and the thing that is lacking is in the genitive case (компетенции). Literally, the sentence is structured as 'Is there not enough of competence to the manager?'
What exact nuance does the word разве add to this question?
Разве adds a strong sense of doubt, surprise, or disbelief. By asking Разве ... не ...?, the speaker is essentially saying, 'Is it really true that he lacks it? I thought he was competent.' It expects reassurance or clarification rather than just a simple yes or no.
The nominative form of competence is компетенция. Why does its genitive form end in -ии rather than just changing the last letter?
Feminine nouns ending in -ия (like компетенция, история, лекция) have a special spelling rule. In the genitive, dative, and prepositional cases, they end in -ии. This is why we write компетенции instead of компетенци.
Could we use the perfective verb не хватит here instead of the imperfective не хватает?
Not without changing the meaning to the future tense. Хватать is imperfective, which we use here for a general, ongoing present-tense state ('does he currently lack'). The perfective хватить is used for future outcomes ('will he lack?') or past completed results. Since Russian has no present perfective, you must use the imperfective for present-tense lack.
What case is этой должности and why?
It is in the genitive case because it follows the preposition для (for). The noun должность (position or post) is a feminine word ending in a soft sign (a 3rd declension noun), so its genitive ending is -и. The demonstrative pronoun эта changes to этой to match.
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