Word
В нашей группе двадцать человек.
Meaning
There are twenty people in our group.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about В нашей группе двадцать человек.
Why is there no word like “is/are” (e.g. есть) in В нашей группе двадцать человек?
Russian often drops the verb быть (“to be”) in the present tense when it simply links a subject and what is said about it.
- English: There are twenty people in our group.
- Literal Russian structure: In our group — twenty people.
So:
- В нашей группе двадцать человек. – completely normal, neutral.
- В нашей группе есть двадцать человек. – also correct, but есть adds a nuance of existence or emphasis, like “there really are / there actually are twenty people in our group” or introducing new information.
In most simple factual statements in the present, Russian just leaves есть out.
Why is it в нашей группе and not в наша группа?