Learn Hardcore Russian: У меня к тебе маленькая просьба: позвони бабушке вечером. - I have a small request for you: call grandma in the evening.

Natural English would be: I have a small favor to ask you or I have a small request for you.
Russian often uses the pattern У + Genitive (меня, тебя, него...) instead of I have.

Why is it У меня and not something like Я имею маленькую просьбу?

In Russian, the verb иметь (to have) is much less common in everyday speech than in English. Possession is usually expressed with the construction:

У + Genitive = at / by / with someone

Examples:

У меня есть машина. – I have a car.
У него есть сестра. – He has a sister.
У меня к тебе просьба. – I have a request for you.

You can say Я имею маленькую просьбу, but it sounds very formal, bookish, or bureaucratic. In everyday conversation, У меня к тебе маленькая просьба is the natural choice.

What does к тебе mean here? Why is it к + dative?

К is a preposition that usually means towards / to (a person) and takes the dative case:

к тебе – to you (informal singular)
к вам – to you (formal or plural)
к врачу – to the doctor
к другу – to (my) friend

In the phrase У меня к тебе просьба, the idea is literally I have a request towards you = I have a request (addressed) to you.

So к тебе marks the person to whom the request is directed. This is a fixed pattern:

У меня к тебе вопрос. – I have a question for you.
У нас к вам предложение. – We have an offer for you.

Using к + dative is just how Russian encodes this “directed at someone” meaning.

What is the nuance of маленькая просьба? Is the request actually “small”?

Literally, маленькая просьба is a small request. But very often it’s used as a polite softener, not as a literal description of size/importance.

It’s similar to English phrases like:

I have a little favor to ask.
Just a small request.

Speakers use маленькая просьба to:

sound less demanding, more polite;
introduce a request in a gentle, indirect way;
sometimes even to soften a request that is not actually small.

So the phrase is more about politeness and tone than about objective “smallness” of the favor.

Why is there a colon : in У меня к тебе маленькая просьба: позвони бабушке вечером?

In Russian, a colon is often used when the second part:

explains, reveals, or specifies what was mentioned in the first part, or
functions like “namely”, “that is”.

Here:

У меня к тебе маленькая просьба: – I have a small request for you:
позвони бабушке вечером. – call Grandma in the evening.

So the second part explains what the request is, and a colon is natural. You could roughly read it as:

I have a small favor to ask: please call Grandma this evening.

In spoken Russian, this would be two clauses with a short pause. Using a comma here would be incorrect; a dash — is sometimes possible, but the colon is standard for this “explanation” relationship.

What form is позвони? Why not звони, позвонишь, or позвонить?

Позвони is the imperative singular of the perfective verb позвонить (to call, once / to make a call).

звонить – imperfective (to be calling, to call regularly, to be in the process)
позвонить – perfective (to call once, to complete the act of calling)

Imperatives:

звони – call (regularly / keep calling / be calling)
позвони – make a call (once) / give a call.

In this sentence, the speaker wants the single, completed action of making a call in the evening. So позвони бабушке вечером = Give Grandma a call this evening (once).

Позвонишь is future indicative (you will call), not an imperative.
Позвонить is the infinitive (to call), not a command.

Why is бабушке in the dative case, not accusative (бабушку)?

The verb звонить / позвонить in Russian normally takes the dative case for the person you call:

звонить кому? – to call whom? (dative)
позвонить кому? – to call whom? (dative)

Examples:

Я позвоню бабушке. – I will call Grandma.
Он позвонил маме. – He called his mom.
Позвони мне. – Call me.

So бабушке is dative singular of бабушка.
Using бабушку (accusative) after позвонить would be incorrect.

Compare with English, where call someone uses a direct object (accusative). Russian encodes this differently, with the dative.

What exactly does вечером mean here? Is it “in the evening” or “this evening”?

Вечером is an adverbial form meaning in the evening / in the evenings, literally “by evening / during evening time.”

In context, if you say it today, it usually means this evening (today), unless otherwise specified by context.

So:

Позвони бабушке вечером.
– Call Grandma in the evening. (understood as “this evening” if said during the same day)

The word itself doesn’t include “this / today”, but in everyday speech, speakers rely on context and assume the nearest relevant evening.

Can I change the word order to Позвони вечером бабушке? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Позвони вечером бабушке.
Вечером позвони бабушке.
Позвони бабушке вечером.

All are grammatically correct and mean Call Grandma in the evening.

Subtle nuances of word order in Russian often relate to emphasis or rhythm, not big meaning changes:

Вечером позвони бабушке. – Slight emphasis on in the evening (not now, not tomorrow morning).
Позвони бабушке вечером. – More neutral, balanced.
Позвони вечером бабушке. – Also natural; sometimes the middle position (вечером) feels like a light emphasis on when.

But for most practical purposes, they are interchangeable here.

How does politeness work in this sentence? It feels quite direct in English.

The bare imperative позвони is grammatically a direct command, but the whole sentence is softened in several ways:

У меня к тебе маленькая просьба…
– This is a polite, indirect opener: I have a small favor to ask. It prepares the listener and softens the request.
Informal к тебе and бабушке
– The context is likely family or close friends. Among relatives, direct imperatives are not rude, especially when introduced politely.

For more explicit politeness, you can add пожалуйста:

У меня к тебе маленькая просьба: пожалуйста, позвони бабушке вечером.

In formal speech (to a stranger, teacher, boss), you would normally switch to вы and plural forms:

У меня к вам маленькая просьба: позвоните, пожалуйста, вашей бабушке вечером.

Are there other common phrases built on У меня к тебе… that I should know?

Yes, it’s a very productive and useful pattern for polite, everyday speech:

У меня к тебе вопрос. – I have a question for you.
У меня к тебе дело. – I have something to discuss with you / I need to talk to you.
У меня к тебе просьба. – I have a favor to ask.
У меня к вам предложение. – I have an offer / suggestion for you.
У меня к тебе претензия. – I have a complaint / issue with you.

All follow the same structure:

У меня / у нас / у него + к тебе / к вам / к нему + [noun].

Learning this pattern will help you sound natural and polite in many everyday situations.