Word
Ему не хватит времени заслужить эту награду.
Meaning
He will not have enough time to deserve this reward.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ему не хватит времени заслужить эту награду.
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
время
time
Questions & Answers about Ему не хватит времени заслужить эту награду.
Why is "he" translated as the Dative ему, and why is "time" in the Genitive (времени)?
The verb хватить (to suffice / be enough) is used in an impersonal construction. The person who has or lacks enough of something takes the Dative case (ему). The thing there is enough or not enough of takes the Genitive case, representing a quantity (времени). This uses the exact same Genitive of quantity logic you are practicing with words like столько and сколько in this lesson.
Why is the verb хватит in the 3rd person singular?
Because this is an impersonal sentence lacking a grammatical subject. Literally, it translates to "To him it will not suffice of time." In Russian, impersonal verbs in the future or present tense always take the 3rd person singular form. If this were in the past tense, it would take the neuter singular form хватило.
How is времени formed? Isn't время a neuter noun ending in -я?
Время is one of the ten special irregular neuter nouns ending in -мя. When these nouns decline into any case other than Nominative or Accusative singular, they add the suffix -ен- before the case ending. Therefore, the Genitive singular becomes времени.
Could we use the imperfective verb заслуживать instead of the perfective заслужить here?