У меня есть мяч.

I have a ball.

Breakdown of У меня есть мяч.

• я: I
• мяч: the ball

Questions & Answers about У меня есть мяч.

What does У меня есть мяч literally and idiomatically mean?

Literally, У меня есть мяч breaks down as “by me there is a ball.” Idiomatically, it means “I have a ball.” Russians often use this construction to express possession instead of a direct verb like “to have.”

Why do we use У меня есть instead of a verb like иметь?

1. иметь (“to have”) exists but is formal or bookish.
2. Native speakers almost always prefer the у + genitive + есть construction for simple possession.
3. Using иметь would sound awkward: Я имею мяч is grammatically correct but unnatural in everyday speech.

What cases are used in У меня есть мяч?

• У (“at/by”) requires the genitive case, so я becomes меня.
• мяч stays in the nominative case because it’s the subject (the thing that exists).

Can I drop the verb есть and just say У меня мяч?

Yes. In spoken Russian, especially when introducing something for the first time, you can omit есть:
• У меня мяч. (“I have a ball.”)
The meaning remains clear, though adding есть can feel more complete or emphatic.

How do I ask “Do you have a ball?” in Russian?

Simply move у тебя to the front, include есть, and add a question mark:
У тебя есть мяч?
Literally: “By you is a ball?”

How do I say “I don’t have a ball”?

Insert не before есть:
У меня нет мяча.
Note that мяч changes to мяча (genitive) after нет.

Why does мяч change to мяча in the negative?

After нет (meaning “there is not”), the noun always takes the genitive case. Thus:
• Affirmative: есть мяч (nominative)
• Negative: нет мяча (genitive)

Can I also say Мой мяч есть у меня to emphasize ownership?

You can, but it sounds redundant and marked. Native speakers prefer the simple У меня есть мяч. If you need emphasis, you’d use intonation or stress:
У МЕНЯ есть мяч!

Is есть ever confused with есть (“to eat”)?

Only by beginners seeing the spelling. Context and pronunciation differ:
• [ɪˈjɛstʲ] (“есть” – existential “to be”)
• [jɪstʲ] (“есть” – “to eat”)
In this sentence, it’s clearly the existential verb “there is.”