Breakdown of Кого бы вы назвали лучшим кандидатом?
кто
who / whoever
вы
you (plural)
лучший
best
кандидат
candidate
Questions & Answers about Кого бы вы назвали лучшим кандидатом?
Why is лучшим кандидатом in the Instrumental case?
The verb назвать (to name or call) takes two objects. The person or thing being named takes the Accusative case (here, Кого), while the role, description, or title they are given takes the Instrumental case (here, лучшим кандидатом).
Why does the particle бы come right after Кого instead of next to the verb назвали?
The conditional particle бы is highly mobile in Russian. While it often sits near the verb, in questions it frequently attaches directly to the question word (like Кого) to immediately establish that the scenario is hypothetical.
Why is it Кого (Accusative) rather than a Dative pronoun like Кому?
Even though English might sometimes conceptualize this as giving a title to someone, the Russian verb назвать acts directly on the person being named. Therefore, it requires a direct object in the Accusative case.
Why use the perfective назвали instead of the imperfective называли?
The sentence asks about making a single, conclusive decision: picking the best candidate. The perfective назвали fits this one-time result, whereas the imperfective называли would imply a repeated action, like asking whom you would frequently call the best candidate.