У меня была температура вечером.

I had a fever in the evening.

Breakdown of У меня была температура вечером.

• я: I
• быть: to be
• вечером: in the evening
• температура: the fever

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?

It is grammatically possible but sounds very unnatural in everyday speech.

• Я имел температуру вечером. – Technically: I possessed a temperature in the evening.

Why it’s odd:

• иметь is a formal verb, used in legal, technical, or very bookish style.
• With health states, Russians strongly prefer the у меня была ... construction.

Natural options are:

• У меня была температура вечером. – I had a fever in the evening.
• Вечером у меня была температура. – In the evening, I had a fever.

So: understand иметь, but don’t use Я имел температуру in normal conversation.

What exactly does была do here? Why is it needed?

Была is the past tense of the verb быть (to be), feminine singular form.

• У меня была температура вечером.
  = There was a temperature at me in the evening → I had a temperature in the evening.

Key points:

• In the present tense, Russian usually drops the verb быть:
  • У меня температура. – I have a temperature (now).
  • Literally: At me (there is) temperature.
• In the past and future, you must use a form of быть:
  • Past: У меня была температура. – I had a temperature.
  • Future: У меня будет температура. – I will have a temperature.

So была marks past time and connects “having” to the past.

Why is it была, not был or было?

The form of быть in the past tense agrees with the grammatical gender and number of the noun that follows it.

• температура is a feminine noun (ends in -а).
  Therefore, we use была (feminine, singular, past):

  • У меня была температура. – I had a temperature.

Compare with other genders:

• У меня был кашель. – I had a cough. (кашель is masculine → был)
• У меня было воспаление. – I had an inflammation. (воспаление is neuter → было)
• У меня были симптомы. – I had symptoms. (симптомы is plural → были)

So: была agrees with температура (feminine).

Could I drop была and just say У меня температура вечером?

You should not drop была if you want to talk about the past.

• У меня была температура вечером. – I had a temperature in the evening. (past)
• У меня температура вечером. – This sounds like a general or present-time statement, for example:
  • “In the evenings I have a temperature” (habitually), or
  • A weird schedule-like statement.

For a specific event in the past, you need была:

• Вчера вечером у меня была температура. – Yesterday evening I had a fever.

So: to clearly express past time, keep была.

Why is it меня and not я after у?

The preposition у (“at, by, near”) requires the genitive case.

• я – nominative (subject form)
• меня – genitive (and also accusative)

The pattern is:

• у + genitive → у меня, у тебя, у него, у неё, у нас, у вас, у них

Examples:

• У меня была температура. – I had a temperature.
• У тебя есть время? – Do you have time?
• У него нет машины. – He does not have a car.

So у меня is just у + я in the required genitive form.

What exactly does температура mean here? Is it “temperature” or “fever”?

In a medical / health context, температура almost always means fever (elevated body temperature).

• У меня была температура вечером.
  → I had a fever in the evening.

Nuances:

• повышенная температура – elevated temperature
• высокая температура – high fever
• немного поднялась температура – temperature went up a bit

Outside of health, температура is just temperature in general:

• температура воздуха – air temperature
• комнатная температура – room temperature

But when someone says У меня температура, it’s about their body temperature, i.e. fever.

Why is it вечером and not в вечер?

Вечером is an adverbial form (technically, instrumental case functioning adverbially) meaning “in the evening”.

Russian often uses case endings instead of a preposition to express time when:

• утром – in the morning
• днём – in the daytime / during the day
• вечером – in the evening
• ночью – at night

You do not say в вечер in this sense. For “in the evening” as a time expression, you simply use:

• вечером

So У меня была температура вечером. = I had a temperature in the evening.

Can I change the word order? For example: Вечером у меня была температура?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and all of these are possible and correct:

• У меня была температура вечером.
• Вечером у меня была температура.
• У меня вечером была температура.

They all mean “I had a temperature in the evening.”

Differences are about emphasis:

• Вечером у меня была температура. – Emphasis on “in the evening” (not in the morning, etc.).
• У меня вечером была температура. – Emphasis slightly more on me and the time.
• The neutral, most typical versions are the first two.

But grammatically, all are fine.

How would I say “I had a high temperature in the evening” or “a slight temperature”?

You add an adjective describing температура, which must agree in gender, number, and case (feminine singular, nominative here):

• У меня была высокая температура вечером. – I had a high temperature (high fever) in the evening.
• У меня была небольшая температура вечером. – I had a slight temperature in the evening.
• У меня была лёгкая температура вечером. – I had a mild temperature in the evening.

Word order is flexible; you can move вечером:

• Вечером у меня была высокая температура.
• У меня вечером была небольшая температура.

How do I turn this into a question: “Did you have a temperature in the evening?”

You mostly keep the same word order and change intonation (speaking voice rising at the end), or add a question mark in writing:

• У тебя была температура вечером? – Did you have a temperature in the evening?

Other natural variants:

• Вечером у тебя была температура?
• У тебя вечером была температура?

All are understood as questions. Russian doesn’t require auxiliary verbs like “did” or strict inversion like English.

Is быть (with была) an imperfective or perfective verb? Does aspect matter here?

Быть is imperfective (and irregular), and it is simply the normal verb you use in this construction. There is no perfective counterpart used here.

• была – past, imperfective, feminine singular form of быть.

With “states” such as having a temperature, you normally use imperfective to describe the state itself:

• У меня была температура весь вечер. – I had a temperature all evening.

Aspect is not something you choose here; быть is just what the structure у меня была ... requires.