Breakdown of В новом составе нас теперь шестеро.
новый
new
в
in / to (direction)
нас
us
теперь
now (as opposed to before)
состав
composition (make-up, ingredients) / line-up
шестеро
six (collective)
Questions & Answers about В новом составе нас теперь шестеро.
Why is the pronoun in the genitive case (нас) instead of the nominative (мы)?
When a collective numeral like шестеро (meaning a group of six) acts as the predicate describing a personal pronoun like we, you, or they, the pronoun must take the genitive case. The Russian structure literally translates to "of us [there is] a group-of-six."
Could I just use the regular cardinal number and say нас теперь шесть?
You could, and it would be understood, but using collective numerals (двое, трое, четверо, up to десятеро) is heavily preferred in Russian when counting personal pronouns. It sounds much more natural for describing a collective group of people.
I usually translate состав as "train." What does it mean in в новом составе?
Состав literally refers to the "composition" or "makeup" of something. While it is commonly used for a train (a composition of train cars), when talking about a group of people it means the "roster," "line-up," or "membership" of a team, band, or committee.
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