"I don't have time." "There's no milk." "No problem!" You will reach for these from your very first week of Russian — and every one of them is built on the same little machine: the word нет (nyet — here meaning "there isn't / there's no…") plus the genitive case of the thing that is missing. У меня́ нет вре́мени (I have no time), Здесь нет туале́та (there's no toilet here), Нет пробле́м! (no problem!). The single most important thing to internalize is the flip: when you say you do have something, the thing is in the dictionary (nominative) form, but the moment you say you don't have it, that thing drops into the genitive. Get this reflex early — it is one of the highest-frequency uses of the genitive in the whole language.
The есть → нет flip
Russian builds "I have" with У меня́ есть + the thing in its normal dictionary form. To say "I don't have," you replace есть with нет and put the thing into the genitive:
| I have (есть + nominative) | I don't have (нет + genitive) |
|---|---|
| У меня́ есть маши́на. (I have a car.) | У меня́ нет маши́ны. (I don't have a car.) |
| У меня́ есть вре́мя. (I have time.) | У меня́ нет вре́мени. (I have no time.) |
| У меня́ есть де́ньги. (I have money.) | У меня́ нет де́нег. (I have no money.) |
У меня́ нет маши́ны, я е́зжу на метро́.
I don't have a car, I take the metro. — маши́на → genitive маши́ны.
Извини́, у меня́ нет вре́мени.
Sorry, I don't have time. — вре́мя → genitive вре́мени.
У нас совсе́м нет де́нег до зарпла́ты.
We have no money at all until payday. — де́ньги → genitive plural де́нег.
Why does this happen? Because нет is not really a separate verb — it is a frozen, fused form of не + есть ("is not"). It carries a built-in negative, and Russian negation of existence always drags the noun into the genitive. You are literally saying "by-me there-is-no-car," with "car" marked as the thing whose absence you're reporting, not as a subject doing anything.
The genitive endings you need here
You don't need the whole genitive system to start saying "I don't have X." Three patterns cover most everyday nouns; the complete set is on the genitive forms page.
| Type | Dictionary → genitive | In context |
|---|---|---|
| Feminine -а → -ы/-и | маши́на → маши́ны, кни́га → кни́ги | нет маши́ны, нет кни́ги |
| Masculine consonant → -а | брат → бра́та, телефо́н → телефо́на | нет бра́та, нет телефо́на |
| Neuter -о → -а | окно́ → окна́, ме́сто → ме́ста | нет окна́, нет ме́ста |
A few very common words are irregular and worth memorizing as set phrases: вре́мя → вре́мени (нет вре́мени, "no time") and де́ньги → де́нег (нет де́нег, "no money"). You will say both daily, so bank them now as whole chunks.
У него́ нет телефо́на, позвони́ ему́ на рабо́ту.
He doesn't have a phone, call him at work. — телефо́н → genitive телефо́на.
В э́том кафе́ нет свобо́дного ме́ста.
There's no free seat in this café. — ме́сто → genitive ме́ста.
"There's no…" anywhere: Здесь нет, В холоди́льнике нет
The exact same нет + genitive also says that something isn't present in a place, not just that a person doesn't own it. You don't even need the у меня́ part:
Здесь нет туале́та?
Is there no toilet here? — туале́т → genitive туале́та.
В холоди́льнике нет молока́.
There's no milk in the fridge. — молоко́ → genitive молока́.
К сожале́нию, биле́тов уже́ нет.
Unfortunately there are no tickets left. — биле́ты → genitive plural биле́тов.
In all of these, нет stays exactly the same — it never changes for gender, number, or anything else. The whole burden of the sentence is carried by putting the missing thing in the genitive. The broader principle behind this — that negated existence always takes the genitive — is the genitive of negation.
Other people: у него́, у неё, у них нет
To say someone else doesn't have something, just change the "owner" pronoun after у. These owner-pronouns are themselves in the genitive (that's why они́ becomes них, etc.), but you can learn them as fixed forms:
| Owner | Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| я | у меня́ нет… | I don't have… |
| ты | у тебя́ нет… | you don't have… |
| он | у него́ нет… | he doesn't have… |
| она́ | у неё нет… | she doesn't have… |
| мы | у нас нет… | we don't have… |
| они́ | у них нет… | they don't have… |
У неё нет сестры́, то́лько брат.
She doesn't have a sister, only a brother. — сестра́ → genitive сестры́.
У них нет дете́й.
They don't have children. — де́ти → genitive plural дете́й.
Past and future: не́ было, не бу́дет
The pattern runs through all three tenses. Only the existence-word changes; the missing thing stays in the genitive the whole way:
| Tense | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present | нет | У меня́ нет вре́мени. (I have no time.) |
| Past | не́ было | У меня́ не́ было вре́мени. (I had no time.) |
| Future | не бу́дет | У меня́ не бу́дет вре́мени. (I won't have time.) |
Вчера́ у нас не́ было молока́, пришло́сь пить чёрный ко́фе.
We had no milk yesterday, we had to drink black coffee. — past: не́ было + genitive молока́.
За́втра у меня́ не бу́дет вре́мени, дава́й в пя́тницу.
I won't have time tomorrow, let's do Friday. — future: не бу́дет + genitive вре́мени.
Two things to note. The past form не́ было carries its stress on the particle — say "NYÉ-byla" — and it never agrees with the missing thing; it stays frozen as neuter singular не́ было even with a plural or feminine noun (Биле́тов не́ было, not не́ были). The future likewise freezes as *не бу́дет, never *не бу́дут. The fuller story of these frozen forms is on the expressing absence page.
Why this feels backwards to English speakers
In English, "I don't have a car" keeps "a car" in exactly the same shape as "I have a car" — only the verb changes (have → don't have). And "there is no milk" keeps "milk" unchanged while the verb (is) does the negating. Russian does it the other way around: the verb-word нет is frozen and unchanging, while the noun moves into the genitive to mark that it's the absent thing. So your instinct will be to leave the noun alone and change the verb; the Russian habit you have to build is the reverse — freeze the нет, bend the noun.
Common Mistakes
❌ У меня́ нет вре́мя.
Incorrect — нет obligatorily takes the genitive; the nominative вре́мя can't stand here. It's вре́мени.
✅ У меня́ нет вре́мени.
I don't have time. — вре́мя → genitive вре́мени.
❌ У меня́ не есть маши́на.
Incorrect — you don't negate есть with не. The negative of есть is the single word нет, and the thing goes genitive.
✅ У меня́ нет маши́ны.
I don't have a car. — нет + genitive маши́ны.
❌ Здесь нет вода́.
Incorrect — after нет the noun must be genitive: воды́, not the nominative вода́.
✅ Здесь нет воды́.
There's no water here. — вода́ → genitive воды́.
❌ Вчера́ у нас не́ были де́ньги.
Incorrect — the past negative existential is frozen neuter singular не́ было; it doesn't become plural, and the noun goes genitive.
✅ Вчера́ у нас не́ было де́нег.
We had no money yesterday. — не́ было + genitive plural де́нег.
❌ Нет пробле́ма!
Incorrect — the set phrase 'no problem' uses the genitive plural: Нет пробле́м!
✅ Нет пробле́м!
No problem! — пробле́мы → genitive plural пробле́м.
Key Takeaways
- "I don't have X / there's no X" = нет + genitive of X: У меня́ нет вре́мени, Здесь нет воды́.
- The flip: affirmative У меня́ есть кни́га (nominative) → negative У меня́ нет кни́ги (genitive). Change есть to нет and bend the noun.
- нет never changes — it's frozen. The work is done by the genitive ending on the missing thing.
- Past and future keep the pattern: не́ было + genitive (had no…), не бу́дет + genitive (won't have…), both frozen forms.
- Bank the high-frequency chunks now: нет вре́мени (no time), нет де́нег (no money), Нет пробле́м! (no problem!).
- This is your gateway to the broader genitive of negation.
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- Expressing Absence: Нет, Не было, Не будетA1 — To say something is missing, Russian uses the existential negative нет + genitive in the present (Здесь нет воды́, У меня́ нет вре́мени), не́ было + genitive in the past (Его́ вчера́ не́ было), and не бу́дет + genitive in the future (За́втра меня́ не бу́дет). The verb never changes for gender or number — it freezes as нет / не́ было / не бу́дет — and the thing that is absent sinks into the genitive instead of standing as a nominative subject. This is the single most common everyday trigger of the genitive, and it feels backwards to English speakers.
- The Genitive of NegationB1 — When existence is denied, Russian uses the genitive: нет / не́ было / не бу́дет always govern the genitive (У меня́ нет вре́мени; В го́роде не́ было метро́). Under a negated transitive verb the object's case is variable — genitive leans toward total, abstract, indefinite negation (Я не чита́ю газе́т), accusative toward a specific, concrete thing (Я не чита́ю газе́ту). The case choice itself encodes a quantification distinction English lacks.
- Genitive: FormsA2 — The genitive (роди́тельный паде́ж) is one of the most-used and most-varied cases. The singular is tidy: masc/neuter -а/-я (стола́, окна́, музе́я), feminine -ы/-и (кни́ги, неде́ли, но́чи). The plural is the single hardest ending set in Russian — a three-way split between zero ending (often with a fleeting vowel: книг, о́кон, де́вушек), -ов/-ев (столо́в, музе́ев, отцо́в), and -ей (ноже́й, словаре́й, ноче́й). Learn the decision procedure, not a word list.
- Possession with У + Genitive (У меня́ есть)A1 — Russian has no verb 'to have' for everyday possession. Instead it says 'by me there is' — у + the possessor in the genitive + есть + the thing in the NOMINATIVE: У меня́ есть кни́га (I have a book). The negative flips the thing to genitive with нет (У меня́ нет вре́мени). Past tense uses был/была́/бы́ло/бы́ли (У меня́ была́ маши́на), negative past не́ было + genitive. Plus when to drop есть, and the н- on у него́ / у неё / у них.
- Genitive: Possession and 'of'A2 — The genitive's flagship job: expressing both the English possessive ('s) and the preposition 'of' at once. There is no apostrophe and no separate 'of' word — possession is shown purely by putting the owner in the genitive AFTER the thing owned: маши́на отца́ (father's car / the car of the father), центр го́рода (the centre of the city). The whole possessor phrase declines, not just its head.
- The Verb Быть (To Be)A1 — Russian's verb 'to be' is unusual: in the present it is simply omitted (Я студе́нт, Она́ до́ма — no verb at all), with есть surviving only for emphatic existence/possession. The past agrees by gender (был/была́/бы́ло/бы́ли) and the future conjugates normally (бу́ду, бу́дешь, бу́дет…), doubling as the imperfective-future auxiliary. After past/future быть, a predicate noun goes into the instrumental: Он был врачо́м.