Breakdown of Он не мог закончить игру без того, чтобы не сломать кий.
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
игра
game
мочь
to be able to
тот
that
без
without
чтобы
in order to
закончить
to finish (perfective)
сломать
to break (snap, damage, machines)
кий
cue
Questions & Answers about Он не мог закончить игру без того, чтобы не сломать кий.
Why is there an extra не before сломать when the English translation just says "without breaking"?
This is the core of the без того, чтобы не structure. In Russian, to express "without doing [X]" as an accompanying action, you literally say "without that, so as not to do [X]". The не is required grammatically to complete the phrase, even though in English it feels like a double negative.
The lesson says this structure can take the past tense or the infinitive. Why do we use the infinitive сломать here?
We use the infinitive because the subject is the same for both actions. The same person ("he") is finishing the game and breaking the cue. If the subjects were different (e.g., "He couldn't finish without his opponent breaking the cue"), we would use the past tense in the second clause.
Why is the perfective verb сломать used here instead of the imperfective ломать?
The action of breaking the cue is viewed as a single, concrete result that happened (or would happen) alongside finishing the game. If it were a continuous or repeated background behavior (like "without complaining"), you would use an imperfective verb instead.
Why doesn't the word кий (cue) change its ending, given that it is the direct object?
Кий is in the accusative case here because it is the direct object of сломать. However, since it is a masculine, inanimate noun, its accusative form is identical to its nominative (dictionary) form.
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