Breakdown of Ради своих амбиций директор должен закончить проект к понедельнику.
директор
director
понедельник
Monday
проект
the project
должен
must, have to (должен, должна, должны)
Questions & Answers about Ради своих амбиций директор должен закончить проект к понедельнику.
What case does the preposition ради trigger here, and how is the ending for амбиций formed?
Ради (for the sake of) always requires the Genitive case. Here it is Genitive plural. For feminine nouns ending in -ия like амбиция (ambition), the Genitive plural is formed by changing the ending to -ий, giving us амбиций.
Could we say ради его амбиций instead of ради своих амбиций?
Grammatically yes, but it changes the meaning! The reflexive possessive свой points back to the subject of the sentence (the директор), meaning these are "his own" ambitions. If you used его, a native speaker would assume you mean some other man's ambitions.
Why use the perfective verb закончить instead of the imperfective заканчивать?
The sentence focuses on the required result and completion of the action by a deadline. The perfective закончить emphasizes getting the project entirely done, whereas the imperfective would focus on the ongoing process of finishing.
Why is the deadline expressed as к понедельнику rather than в понедельник?
The preposition к followed by the Dative case (понедельнику) translates to "by" a certain time, setting a strict deadline. If you said в понедельник (on Monday), it would mean the action of finishing must happen exactly on Monday, rather than any time before the deadline.