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In the statement "Завтра нас здесь не будет." ("We will not be here tomorrow."), why use нас instead of мы? And why the conjugation is on the third person? I would translate it like "Tomorrow, here will not go to us".

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  • The sentence can be rephrased to use мы - "Завтра мы здесь не будем
    – Max
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 17:00
  • @Max That doesn't sound very Russian.
    – Nikolay Ershov
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 17:01
  • @NikolayErshov in what way? Does it not make sense gramatically? Or does it not flow well?
    – Max
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 17:03
  • @Max That just isn't how you say it. About as strange as "we won't be being here tomorrow".
    – Nikolay Ershov
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 17:06
  • @NikolayErshov Ok, you make a point, it doesn't sound as strange to me but I suppose you are correct.
    – Max
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 17:07

3 Answers 3

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Нас здесь не будет is нас здесь нет transposed, as a chunk, into the future tense. Нет is immutably impersonal, and the so-called negative genitive is a phenomenon you might encounter elsewhere in Russian.

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The most literal English translation of "Завтра нас здесь не будет" is "There will be no us here tomorrow". In English such construction looks pretty weird, but in Russian the opposite is true: "Завтра нас здесь не будет" is the natural way to say it, while the literal translation "Завтра мы здесь не будем" sounds awkward.

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Завтра нас здесь не будет - passive expression not highlighting the mean of leaving
Завтра мы уедем отсюда - active equivalent with мы

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