Breakdown of Директор скрывает данные, как бы мошенники их не украли.
не
not
они
they
директор
director
бы
would (conditional particle) / concessive particle
Questions & Answers about Директор скрывает данные, как бы мошенники их не украли.
Why is the past tense verb украли used here when the potential theft is in the future?
This is the standard rule for subordinate clauses of apprehension. When you use как бы не to mean 'lest' or 'for fear that,' it must be followed by a past tense verb, even though it refers to a hypothetical future event. It works similarly to the subjunctive mood.
Why is there a не before the verb? Is the director afraid they won't steal it?
No, he is afraid they will! In Russian, the construction как бы ... не is used to express fear that an undesirable event might happen, translating to 'lest' or 'so that they do not'. The не is a structural requirement here to show the desire to prevent the action, not a logical negation of the fear itself.
Why does the sentence use the plural pronoun их when the English translation says 'steal it'?
The pronoun их (them) refers back to данные (data). In Russian, данные is grammatically plural. Because of this, it must be referenced by a plural pronoun, whereas modern English usually treats 'data' as a singular mass noun.
Could we use the perfective verb скроет instead of the imperfective скрывает in the first clause?
Not without changing the timeframe. Скрывает shows an ongoing, present state: the director is currently hiding the data. Using the perfective скроет would change it to a one-time future action: the director will hide the data.