Learn Russian: У нас отличная фантазия, но нам не хватает компетенции. - We have excellent imagination, but we lack competence.

У нас отличная фантазия, но нам не хватает компетенции.

We have excellent imagination, but we lack competence.

Breakdown of У нас отличная фантазия, но нам не хватает компетенции.

Questions & Answers about У нас отличная фантазия, но нам не хватает компетенции.

Why is it нам and компетенции here instead of 'мы не хватаем компетенцию'?

The verb хватать (to suffice/to be enough) is impersonal in this meaning. The person who lacks something takes the Dative case (нам), and the thing that is lacking takes the Genitive case (компетенции). Literally, it translates closer to 'to us there is not enough of competence'.

Why is хватает in the 3rd person singular here? Can it change to plural if we lack multiple things?

No, in the meaning of 'to lack' or 'to be enough', this verb is strictly impersonal. It is always locked into the 3rd person singular (хватает or хватит) or the neuter singular in the past tense (хватало or хватило), regardless of whether the missing thing is singular or plural.

Why does the first half use у нас for 'we have', but the second half uses нам for 'we lack'?

This highlights the difference between standard possession and impersonal experiences! To express having something, you use у + Genitive (у нас). But to express lacking or needing something with хватать, Russian uses an impersonal structure where the experiencer is in the Dative case (нам).

I thought фантазия meant 'fantasy'. Does it mean 'imagination' here?