English needs a dummy word to report existence: there is a metro, there are tickets. Russian has no such word — it states existence directly with есть ("there is / there are") for what's present, and нет ("there isn't / there aren't") for what's missing. And here is the catch that trips up every English speaker: when something is present, you name it in the nominative (Здесь есть метро́); the moment it is absent, that same thing flips into the genitive (Здесь нет метро́). This page covers presence, absence, and the past and future of both — the single highest-frequency sentence pattern in the language.
Affirmative existence: есть + nominative
To say something exists or is present, use есть plus the thing in its plain dictionary (nominative) form. Word order is typically place first, есть, then the thing — the new information (what exists) lands at the end, exactly as Russian information flow demands.
Здесь есть метро́?
Is there a metro here? — есть + nominative метро́ (indeclinable).
На столе́ есть кни́га.
There's a book on the table. — place first (на столе́), then есть + nominative кни́га.
В на́шем го́роде есть аэропо́рт.
There's an airport in our town. — В на́шем го́роде есть + nominative аэропо́рт.
Note that есть never changes for gender or number — it covers "there is" and "there are" alike: На столе́ есть кни́ги ("there are books on the table").
The very same есть builds personal possession with у меня́ ("by me / I have") — У меня́ есть маши́на is literally "by-me there-is a-car." That possessive frame is covered in full on у + genitive possession.
Location-first word order, with or without есть
When you're answering "what's here?" or asserting existence, keep есть. When the thing is already known and you're just saying where it is, drop есть and lead with the place:
На столе́ кни́га, а на по́лке — ва́за.
There's a book on the table, and a vase on the shelf. — no есть; the scene is being described, не asserted into existence.
The difference is subtle but real: На столе́ есть кни́га? asks "is there a book on the table (at all)?", while Где кни́га? — На столе́ answers "where is the (known) book? — on the table." Lead with the place either way; English's "there is" maps onto есть, never onto a separate Russian word.
Negative existence: нет + genitive
Here is the asymmetry. To say something is not there, you do not negate есть with не. You replace it with the single frozen word нет, and — crucially — the missing thing drops into the genitive:
Здесь нет метро́.
There's no metro here. — нет + genitive (метро́ is indeclinable, so it looks unchanged).
В дере́вне нет апте́ки.
There's no pharmacy in the village. — апте́ка → genitive апте́ки.
К сожале́нию, биле́тов уже́ нет.
Unfortunately there are no tickets left. — биле́ты → genitive plural биле́тов.
So the pair is structurally lopsided: есть кни́га (nominative) but нет кни́ги (genitive). The whole grammar flips between affirmative and negative. The deep logic and the full endings live on I have no… (нет + genitive); the short version is that Russian negated existence always pulls the noun into the genitive, because you're reporting the absence of the thing, not treating it as a subject that does something.
Past tense: был / была́ / бы́ло / бы́ли + nominative
In the past, existence is carried by был — and unlike есть, it agrees with the thing (in gender and number, since the thing is the grammatical subject):
| Form | Agrees with | Example |
|---|---|---|
| был | masculine | В го́роде был теа́тр. (There was a theatre in town.) |
| была́ | feminine | Была́ оши́бка. (There was a mistake.) |
| бы́ло | neuter | Здесь бы́ло о́зеро. (There was a lake here.) |
| бы́ли | plural | На по́лке бы́ли кни́ги. (There were books on the shelf.) |
Ра́ньше в на́шем го́роде был большо́й заво́д.
Our town used to have a big factory. — masculine заво́д → был.
В отчёте была́ оши́бка.
There was a mistake in the report. — feminine оши́бка → была́.
Past negative: не́ было + genitive (frozen)
The negative past does not agree. It freezes as neuter singular не́ было — stressed on the particle (the не́ carries the stress) — no matter what's missing, and the thing stays genitive:
В дере́вне не́ было апте́ки.
There was no pharmacy in the village. — не́ было + genitive апте́ки (frozen, never была́).
У нас совсе́м не́ было вре́мени.
We had no time at all. — не́ было + genitive вре́мени.
Биле́тов не́ было.
There were no tickets. — не́ было stays singular even with plural биле́тов → genitive plural.
So the past mirrors the present asymmetry exactly: affirmative был/была́/бы́ло/бы́ли + nominative (agreeing), but negative не́ было + genitive (frozen). The stress shift onto the particle — не́ было — is a real feature; write it and say it that way.
Future: бу́дет / бу́дут + nominative, не бу́дет + genitive
The future works the same way. Affirmative бу́дет (singular) / бу́дут (plural) takes the nominative; negative не бу́дет is frozen singular and takes the genitive:
За́втра в шко́ле бу́дет конце́рт.
There'll be a concert at school tomorrow. — бу́дет + nominative конце́рт.
На собра́нии бу́дут все.
Everyone will be at the meeting. — бу́дут (plural) + nominative все.
За́втра у меня́ не бу́дет вре́мени.
I won't have time tomorrow. — не бу́дет (frozen) + genitive вре́мени.
The whole picture in one table
| Tense | Affirmative (+ nominative) | Negative (+ genitive) |
|---|---|---|
| Present | есть (frozen) | нет (frozen) |
| Past | был / была́ / бы́ло / бы́ли (agrees) | не́ было (frozen) |
| Future | бу́дет / бу́дут (agrees in number) | не бу́дет (frozen) |
The pattern to lock in: the affirmative agrees and takes the nominative; the negative freezes and takes the genitive. That is the engine of Russian existence across all three tenses.
The distinguishing insight: there is no "there"
English builds existence with a placeholder subject — there is, there are, there was. Russian has nothing of the kind: existence is stated directly by the verb-word (есть / был / бу́дет) with the thing as a real subject, or its absence by нет / не́ было / не бу́дет with the thing in the genitive. Do not look for a Russian word that translates "there." Trying to insert one (using там, "in that place") produces a sentence about a location, not existence: Там кни́га means "the book is over there," not "there is a book." Reach instead for есть/нет and let the place — if any — sit at the front.
Common Mistakes
❌ Там есть кни́га на столе́.
Wrong if you mean 'there is a book' — там means 'over there (in that place)', not the dummy 'there'. Use the place phrase itself.
✅ На столе́ есть кни́га.
There's a book on the table. — place first, then есть + nominative.
❌ Здесь не есть метро́.
Wrong — you don't negate есть with не. Its negative is the single word нет, and the thing goes genitive.
✅ Здесь нет метро́.
There's no metro here. — нет + genitive.
❌ Здесь нет апте́ка.
Wrong — after нет the noun must be genitive: апте́ки, not the nominative апте́ка.
✅ Здесь нет апте́ки.
There's no pharmacy here. — апте́ка → genitive апте́ки.
❌ В дере́вне не была́ апте́ка.
Wrong — the past negative existential is frozen neuter не́ было and the noun goes genitive; it never agrees as была́.
✅ В дере́вне не́ было апте́ки.
There was no pharmacy in the village. — не́ было + genitive апте́ки.
❌ За́втра не бу́дут биле́тов.
Wrong — the future negative is frozen singular не бу́дет, never plural не бу́дут, even with a plural noun.
✅ За́втра не бу́дет биле́тов.
There won't be any tickets tomorrow. — не бу́дет + genitive plural биле́тов.
Key Takeaways
- Russian has no dummy "there" — existence is stated directly with есть / нет / был / бу́дет.
- Affirmative takes the nominative; negative takes the genitive. This asymmetry runs through all three tenses.
- Present: есть (frozen) vs нет (frozen). Past: был/была́/бы́ло/бы́ли (agrees) vs не́ было (frozen, stress on не́). Future: бу́дет/бу́дут vs не бу́дет (frozen).
- Lead with the place (На столе́…, В го́роде…); put the existing thing last.
- Drop есть when you merely locate a known thing (На столе́ кни́га); keep it when you assert existence (На столе́ есть кни́га?).
Now practice Russian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Russian→Related Topics
- I Have No…: Нет + Genitive for BeginnersA1 — The everyday way to say you don't have something: У меня́ нет + genitive (У меня́ нет вре́мени, У меня́ нет де́нег). The key flip English speakers miss — the affirmative У меня́ есть кни́га (nominative) becomes the negative У меня́ нет кни́ги (genitive). Нет always takes the genitive of what's missing, in the present (нет), past (не́ было), and future (не бу́дет).
- 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.
- Nominal Sentences and the DashA2 — Russian says 'X is Y' with no verb in the present tense — the copula is simply absent (Я студе́нт). When both halves are nouns, a dash stands in for the missing verb (Москва́ — столи́ца Росси́и). In the past and future the verb reappears as был/бу́дет, and — the feature that catches every English speaker — the predicate noun then goes into the INSTRUMENTAL case (Он был врачо́м), not the nominative.
- Subjectless Sentences: A Practical GuideB1 — A production recipe for the many Russian sentences that have no grammatical subject at all — weather (Хо́лодно), feelings in the dative (Мне гру́стно), necessity (Мне на́до идти́), negated existence (Воды́ нет), the 'they say' indefinite-personal (Говоря́т, что…), and natural forces in the instrumental (Доро́гу занесло́ сне́гом). The English-speaker's reflex is to invent a subject ('it', 'they', 'one'); the Russian skill is to leave the subject slot empty and let the form carry the meaning.
- Building a Simple SentenceA1 — A Russian simple sentence is subject + verb + object, with the subject in the nominative, the verb agreeing with it, and the object in the accusative: Я чита́ю кни́гу ('I'm reading a book'). Three things surprise English speakers: there are no articles (no 'a' or 'the'), there is no present-tense 'to be' (Я студе́нт = 'I student'), and there is no 'do'-support. This page builds a sentence up step by step — pronoun, verb, object, adjective, adverb, negation — so you can produce correct simple sentences from day one.