Breakdown of В школе у нас есть урок про современное общество.
Questions & Answers about В школе у нас есть урок про современное общество.
Russian distinguishes location from direction:
- В школе = in/at school (location, where something happens)
- в
- школа in the prepositional case → школе
- в
- В школу = to school (movement towards a place)
- в
- школа in the accusative case → школу
- в
In the sentence «В школе у нас есть урок…» nothing is moving; it just says that at school we have this lesson, so the prepositional case is used: в школе.
Literally, у нас есть means “at us there is”:
- у = at / by (shows possession when used with people)
- нас = us (genitive case of мы)
- есть = there is / exists
So «у нас есть урок…» = “we have a lesson…” but the structure is “at us there is a lesson…”.
Using мы имеем урок is technically possible but sounds unnatural and bookish in most everyday contexts. Russian normally expresses “to have” with у + (genitive of person) + есть:
- У меня есть книга. = I have a book.
- У него есть машина. = He has a car.
Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and all of these are grammatically correct:
В школе у нас есть урок про…
Slight emphasis on location (“At school, we have a lesson about…”).У нас в школе есть урок про…
Balanced, very natural: “We, at our school, have a lesson about…”.У нас есть урок про… в школе.
Still correct, but sounds a bit less natural here; the place (в школе) usually comes earlier when it’s just context.
The basic information doesn’t change; word order mainly affects emphasis and style, not grammar.
Урок is in the nominative singular.
Structure: У нас есть урок…
In this structure, the thing that exists/that we “have” (урок) acts as the grammatical subject of есть, so it stays in the nominative:
- У нас есть урок.
- У нас есть книга.
- У нас есть проблема.
If you were doing something to the lesson (e.g. “we start the lesson”), then урок might appear in the accusative, but not in this “have” construction.
Both can translate as “about”, but they differ in style and case:
- про
- accusative case
- урок про современное общество
- more colloquial / conversational
- accusative case
- о(б)
- prepositional case
- урок о современном обществе
- more neutral / formal, very common in written language
- prepositional case
In everyday speech, «урок про современное общество» is perfectly fine.
In formal contexts (school program description, textbook), «урок о современном обществе» may sound a bit more standard.
- общество (society) is a neuter noun, nominative/accusative singular.
- современный (modern) must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case:
- neuter, singular, accusative → современное
So:
- современное общество = modern society
(neuter, singular, accusative; required after про)
With о, the form changes:
- о современном обществе
- prepositional case: современном обществе.
Because in this sentence, «современное общество» isn’t describing the place (school); it’s the topic of the lesson.
- В школе у нас есть урок про современное общество.
= At school, we have a lesson about modern society.
If you said:
- В современной обществе…
you’d be trying to say “in the modern society”, but that’s grammatically wrong: it should be
- в современном обществе (prepositional case, neuter: обществе, adjective: современном)
That would mean “in modern society”, a completely different structure and meaning.
Yes. Both are possible:
У нас есть урок про современное общество.
More neutral; slightly emphasizes existence / availability of such a lesson.У нас урок про современное общество.
Very natural in speech; feels a bit more matter-of-fact, like “Our lesson is about modern society” / “We have a lesson on modern society (that’s what it is).”
Omitting есть in the present tense is common when the existence is clear or not being emphasized.
Урок usually corresponds to a school lesson / class period:
- one subject period on the timetable (e.g. a history class, a math class)
- mostly used for school (grades 1–11)
Other options:
- занятие – a more general “lesson / session”, works for courses, university, groups, etc.
- класс – more often means “classroom” or “group of students” (e.g. 5th grade class), not the scheduled lesson itself.
So in this sentence, урок is best understood as “lesson” or “class (period)” at school.
Russian has no articles (no direct equivalents of a/an or the).
Definiteness/indefiniteness is understood from context, word order, and stress, not from a separate word.
So «урок» can mean:
- a lesson / a class
- the lesson / the class
depending on context. In English, you’d likely say:
- “At school, we have a lesson about modern society.”
In Russian, “modern / contemporary” in this sense is normally современный, not formed from время (time) in the way English might suggest.
Pattern:
- современный город – modern city
- современная музыка – modern music
- современное общество – modern society
There is no word современственный in standard Russian; the correct adjective is современный, whose neuter form here is современное.
You can, but it’s less typical than with some other subjects.
Common patterns:
- урок по математике / истории / биологии
- курс по экономике / философии
With общество it’s more common to refer to the whole school subject:
- обществознание = social studies / civics
So you would more naturally say:
- урок обществознания (a social studies lesson)
If you want to keep “modern society” as a topic, then:
- урок о современном обществе (most neutral)
- урок про современное общество (colloquial, normal in speech)
Stresses:
- В шкóле у нас есть урóк про совремéнное óбщество.
Word by word:
- в шкóле
- у нас
- есть
- урóк
- про
- совремéнное
- óбщество
Notes:
- шкóле – stress on шко-
- урóк – stress on -рок
- совремéнное – stress on -мен-
- óбщество – stress on óб-; the -щ- is like “shch” in “fresh cheese” (pronounced quickly).