Breakdown of Мы никогда не допускаем компромиссов, когда речь идёт о качестве.
не
not
мы
we
о
about (о, об, обо)
идти
to go (on foot) / to proceed, go (of a process)
никогда
never
когда
when
качество
quality
компромисс
compromise
речь
speech / conversation (f)
допускать
to admit / to allow (entry or possibility)
речь идёт о
it is about, the matter concerns
Questions & Answers about Мы никогда не допускаем компромиссов, когда речь идёт о качестве.
Since this lesson is about the наи- prefix, how could we use it here to say 'when it comes to the highest quality'?
You can use the absolute superlative form of высокий (high) or хороший (good) by adding the наи- prefix. The phrase becomes когда речь идёт о наивысшем качестве (highest quality) or о наилучшем качестве (best quality). Remember that the adjective still needs to match качестве in the prepositional case.
Why is компромиссов in the genitive case here instead of the accusative?
This is due to the negative verb не допускаем. In Russian, when a transitive verb is negated, its direct object often takes the genitive case instead of the accusative. This is known as the 'genitive of negation' and is very common with abstract nouns like компромисс. If the sentence were positive, you would use the accusative: мы допускаем компромиссы.
Literally, what does the phrase речь идёт о mean?
Literally, it translates to 'speech goes about'. It is the standard and most natural Russian idiom for 'when it comes to', 'it is a question of', or 'we are talking about'.
If we wanted to say 'when it came to quality' in the past tense, how would речь идёт change?
It would become речь шла. Because речь is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign, the past tense verb идти must take the feminine past tense form шла.
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