Questions & Answers about У меня была температура вечером.
Why does Russian use У меня (literally “at me”) instead of Я to say “I had”?
Russian usually expresses possession with the structure у + person in genitive + есть/был(а/о/и) + thing.
- У меня была температура. = I had a temperature / a fever.
Literally: “At me there was a temperature.”
This is the normal, natural way to talk about having something, especially temporary states (health, mood, etc.):
- У меня есть машина. – I have a car.
- У него была простуда. – He had a cold.
- У неё будет операция. – She will have an operation.
Using я as the grammatical subject with a verb “to have” is rare and sounds formal or bookish. For everyday speech, у меня / у тебя / у него ... is the default pattern.
Could I say Я имел температуру вечером instead? Is it correct?