Questions & Answers about Сегодня у меня один урок.
Where is the verb “to have” in Сегодня у меня один урок? It feels like there is no verb.
Russian often expresses possession with a special structure instead of a verb like to have.
The pattern is:
- у + [person in genitive] + [thing in nominative]
- Optionally with есть between them.
So:
- У меня один урок literally: “At me [there is] one lesson.”
- In natural English: “I have one lesson.”
The verb есть (roughly “there is/are”) is often omitted when we talk about something that already exists and is specific or known from context. So:
- Сегодня у меня один урок.
= Сегодня у меня (есть) один урок.
The verb is “hidden” (understood), but the sentence is completely correct and normal Russian.
Why do we say у меня and not something like я имею один урок?