Сегодня у меня один урок.

Today I have one lesson.

Breakdown of Сегодня у меня один урок.

• я: I
• сегодня: today
• урок: the lesson
• один: alone

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?

Russian almost never uses иметь (“to have”) in everyday speech to talk about simple possession.

Instead, Russian prefers the у + genitive construction:

• У меня один урок. – I have one lesson.
• У него машина. – He has a car.
• У нас проблема. – We have a problem.

Sentences like я имею один урок are grammatically possible but sound unnatural in ordinary conversation and are usually reserved for formal, legal, or abstract contexts (for example, “to have the right,” иметь право).

So for “I have X (today),” you almost always say:

• Сегодня у меня X.

Why is it у меня and not у я? What case is меня?

Меня is the genitive form of я (“I”).

The preposition у (“at, by”) always requires the genitive case:

• я → у меня (at me)
• ты → у тебя (at you)
• он → у него
• она → у неё
• мы → у нас
• вы → у вас
• они → у них

So у меня literally means “at me,” which is how Russian expresses “I have” in this kind of structure.

What cases are меня and урок in Сегодня у меня один урок?

• меня is genitive singular, required by the preposition у.
• урок is nominative singular, because in this construction the “thing you have” is in the nominative:

Pattern:

• У + [genitive] + [nominative thing]

Examples:

• У меня книга. – I have a book.
• У него брат. – He has a brother.
• У нас экзамен. – We have an exam.

In your sentence:

• Сегодня – adverb (“today”)
• у меня – genitive phrase (“at me” = “I have”)
• один урок – nominative (“one lesson/class”)

Why is it один урок and not одна урок or одно урок?

The form of один (“one”) must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun.

• урок is a masculine noun.
• The masculine nominative form of “one” is один.

So:

• один урок – one lesson (masculine)
• одна книга – one book (feminine)
• одно окно – one window (neuter)
• одни ножницы – one pair of scissors (plural-only noun)

Because урок is masculine nominative singular, we use один.

Does один here just mean “one,” or can it also mean “only one”? How do I say “I only have one lesson today”?

By default, один means simply “one”:

• Сегодня у меня один урок. – Today I have one lesson.
  (Neutral: it might be clear from context whether that’s “only one” or just a count.)

To clearly say “only one”, Russians usually add только or лишь:

• Сегодня у меня только один урок.
• Сегодня у меня лишь один урок.

Both mean: “Today I have only one lesson.”

Can I say Сегодня у меня есть один урок? What’s the difference if I add есть?

Yes, Сегодня у меня есть один урок is grammatically correct.

Nuance:

• Сегодня у меня один урок.
  – The most natural, neutral way to say “Today I have one lesson.”
  The existence is taken as a simple fact, no extra emphasis.

• Сегодня у меня есть один урок.
  – More “emphatic” existence: “There is one lesson (for me) today.”
  It can sound slightly more contrastive, like:

  • “At least I have one lesson today.”
  • “I do have one lesson today (not zero).”

In everyday speech, есть is often omitted unless you want to emphasize the existence/contrast.

Can I change the word order? For example: У меня сегодня один урок or У меня один урок сегодня?

Yes, several orders are possible, all grammatically correct. The basic meaning stays the same; the emphasis shifts slightly.

Common variants:

1. Сегодня у меня один урок.
   – Most neutral: “Today, I have one lesson.”

2. У меня сегодня один урок.
   – Slightly more focus on у меня (“I / for me today”), like “As for me, today I have one lesson.”

3. У меня один урок сегодня.
   – Puts сегодня at the end; can sound like you’re clarifying when: “I have one lesson, and that’s today.”

All are fine in speech. The first two are the most typical.

What exactly does урок mean here? Is it more like “class,” “lesson,” or “lecture”?

Урок most often corresponds to “lesson” or “class” in a school or regular course context:

• School timetable: первый урок, второй урок – first period, second period.
• Language courses, music lessons, etc.: урок русского, урок фортепиано.

Some rough equivalents:

• урок – a scheduled lesson/class (especially school-type).
• занятие – “class” or “session” (more general, often university or courses).
• лекция – a lecture (especially at university, with a lecturer).

So Сегодня у меня один урок is usually understood as:

• “Today I have one class/lesson (on my schedule).”

How would I say “Today I have two/three/four/five lessons”? Do the forms of урок change?

Yes, after numbers the noun урок changes form according to Russian counting rules.

Pattern with урок:

1. 1 – nominative singular

   • один урок

2. 2, 3, 4 – genitive singular

   • два урока
   • три урока
   • четыре урока

3. 5 and above – genitive plural

   • пять уроков
   • шесть уроков
   • десять уроков etc.

With Сегодня у меня…:

• Сегодня у меня два урока. – Today I have two lessons.
• Сегодня у меня три урока.
• Сегодня у меня четыре урока.
• Сегодня у меня пять уроков.

So the ending changes:

• singular: урок
• genitive singular: урока
• genitive plural: уроков

How do I say the same thing in the past and future? For example, “Yesterday I had one lesson” and “Tomorrow I will have one lesson”?

In the past and future, Russian often adds a form of быть (“to be”) to express time more clearly.

• Past:

  • Вчера у меня был один урок. – Yesterday I had one lesson.

• Future:

  • Завтра у меня будет один урок. – Tomorrow I will have one lesson.

Details:

• был – past masculine singular
• была – past feminine singular
• было – past neuter
• были – past plural
• будет – future 3rd person singular (“will be”)

In the present, the form of быть is usually omitted:

• Сегодня у меня один урок. – literally “Today at me one lesson (is).”

What part of speech is Сегодня? Does it change its form in cases?

Сегодня is an adverb meaning “today.”

• As an adverb, it does not decline and does not change for case.
• It always stays сегодня, no matter the role in the sentence.

Other time adverbs that behave similarly:

• вчера – yesterday
• завтра – tomorrow
• сейчас – now

So you never say things like “сегодню” or “сегоня” in standard Russian. It’s always сегодня.

How do I pronounce Сегодня у меня один урок? Are there any reductions or tricky sounds?

Rough pronunciation with stress marked:

• Сегодня – [сиво́дня]

  • Written е, but in unstressed position before a consonant it sounds close to и.
  • The stressed syllable is -во-: сиво́дня.

• у меня – [у миня́]

  • е in меня is unstressed and reduced, sounding closer to и.
  • Stress on -ня: миня́.

• один – [ади́н]

  • Stress on the second syllable: ади́н.

• урок – [уро́к]

  • Stress on -рок: уро́к.

Altogether (very roughly in English-ish sounds):
сивО́дня у минЯ́ адИ́н урО́к.