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Questions & Answers about У меня есть новая работа.
What does each word in У меня есть новая работа literally mean?
- У = “at” or “by”
- меня = “me” in the genitive case
- есть = “there is” (present-tense of “to be”)
- новая = “new” (feminine, nominative singular)
- работа = “job” (feminine, nominative singular)
Put together: “At me there is a new job,” i.e. “I have a new job.”
Why is меня in the genitive case after у, and not мне?
The preposition у always requires the genitive case to express possession or proximity. You literally say “by me” (у меня) to mean “I have.”
What is the role of the verb есть in this sentence, and can it be omitted?
- есть functions as the existential “to be” (“there is”).
- In spoken Russian you can often drop it: У меня новая работа.
- Including есть adds clarity or emphasis.
- In the negative you must replace it with нет (and switch the noun to genitive): У меня нет работы.
What case and gender are новая and работа, and why are they in the nominative?
- работа is a feminine noun in the nominative singular because it’s the subject of the existential construction.
- новая is an adjective that agrees with работа in gender, number, and case (feminine, singular, nominative).
Why don’t Russians say Я имею новую работу to mean “I have a new job”?
The verb иметь (“to have”) exists but sounds overly formal or bookish. Native speakers almost always use the У + genitive + есть construction in everyday speech.
How do you make the sentence negative: “I don’t have a new job”?
Replace есть with нет and put новая работа in the genitive singular:
У меня нет новой работы.
How do you ask someone “Do you have a new job?” informally and formally?
- Informal (singular): У тебя есть новая работа?
- Formal or plural: У вас есть новая работа?
Can I change the word order for emphasis, like Есть у меня новая работа or У меня работа есть?
The neutral order is У меня есть новая работа.
You can front есть for poetic or emphatic effect (Есть у меня новая работа!) or move it to the end (У меня новая работа есть), but those sound marked or literary in casual conversation.