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Questions & Answers about У меня есть один брат.
Why is меня in the genitive case rather than nominative in У меня есть один брат?
In Russian possession is shown with У + genitive + есть (“at someone there is”). The preposition у always requires the following pronoun or noun to be in the genitive case, so я becomes меня.
Why is есть used in this sentence, and what exactly does it mean?
Есть is the 3rd-person singular present of быть (“to be”) and here functions like English there is. The phrase У меня есть literally means “at me there is,” which we translate as “I have.”
Could we drop есть and say У меня один брат? Would the meaning change?
Yes—omitting есть is common in informal Russian. У меня один брат still means “I have one brother.” Including есть can sound slightly more formal or emphatic, but both forms are correct.
What role does один play in У меня есть один брат? Is it necessary?
Один means “one” and specifies the exact number. You can say У меня есть брат (“I have a brother”) without один, which implies you have at least one brother. Adding один makes it clear you have exactly one.
Why is брат in the nominative case here?
In the construction У меня есть …, the noun after есть is the grammatical subject of the existential clause and thus takes the nominative case. Here брат remains nominative singular.
How would you say “I have two brothers” in Russian?
Use the same structure but change the number and noun form:
У меня есть два брата
or informally У меня два брата. After два, три, четыре, the noun takes the genitive singular form (брата).
How do you say “I don’t have a brother” in Russian?
Replace есть with нет and put the noun in the genitive singular:
У меня нет брата
(“At me there is no brother”).