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У дяди длинная борода, и дети любят трогать эту бороду.

У дяди длинная борода, и дети любят трогать эту бороду.
My uncle has a long beard, and children like to touch this beard.

Breakdown of У дяди длинная борода, и дети любят трогать эту бороду.

любить
to love
и
and
длинный
long
этот
this
ребёнок
the child
дядя
the uncle
борода
the beard
трогать
to touch
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Questions & Answers about У дяди длинная борода, и дети любят трогать эту бороду.

Why does Russian use У дяди длинная борода to mean “The uncle has a long beard”? Why not just say something like Дядя имеет длинную бороду?

In Russian, the standard, natural way to express possession (“X has Y”) is:

у + [person in genitive case] + [thing in nominative case]

So:

  • У дяди длинная борода literally = “At the uncle there is a long beard” → “The uncle has a long beard.”

Using иметь (“to have”) is possible, but it:

  • sounds more formal, bookish, or technical, and
  • is used much less often in everyday speech, especially with body parts and inherent characteristics.

So Дядя имеет длинную бороду is grammatically correct, but feels stylistically odd or overly formal in normal conversation. Native speakers will overwhelmingly prefer У дяди длинная борода in this context.

Why is it дяди and not дядя after у? What case is дяди?

Дяди is the genitive singular form of дядя (“uncle”).

The construction у + person to mean “X has” always takes the genitive case:

  • у кого? – “at whom / who has?”
    • у дяди – “(the) uncle has”
    • у мамы – “(the) mother has”
    • у брата – “(the) brother has”

So:

  • дядя – nominative (used as subject: Дядя пришёл. – “The uncle came.”)
  • дяди – genitive (after у to talk about possession: У дяди есть машина. – “Uncle has a car.”)

In this sentence, у дяди is exactly that: the genitive used in the possessive construction.

Could we also say У дяди есть длинная борода? What’s the difference between that and У дяди длинная борода?

Yes, У дяди есть длинная борода is grammatically correct.

The difference is subtle:

  • У дяди длинная борода.
    – Neutral, descriptive. Stating a characteristic, a fact about what he is like.
    – Feels very natural for something permanent like a body part.

  • У дяди есть длинная борода.
    – Slightly emphasizes existence: “The uncle does have a long beard (as opposed to not having one).”
    – Often used when:

    • you contrast having vs not having something, or
    • you introduce a new item in the conversation.

In practice, with body parts and stable features, Russians often drop есть, as in the original sentence. So У дяди длинная борода is the most natural here.

Why is it длинная борода and not длинный борода?

Because борода (“beard”) is grammatically feminine, and adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun.

The adjective длинный (“long”) has different forms:

  • masculine: длинный
  • feminine: длинная
  • neuter: длинное
  • plural: длинные

Since:

  • борода is feminine, singular, nominative
  • the adjective must match: длинная борода

So:

  • длинный стол – “long table” (masculine)
  • длинная борода – “long beard” (feminine)
  • длинное письмо – “long letter” (neuter)
  • длинные волосы – “long hair” (plural)
Why does борода change to бороду in трогать эту бороду?

This is a case change.

First appearance:

  • борода is the subject of the clause У дяди длинная борода, so it’s in the nominative case.

Second appearance:

  • In дети любят трогать эту бороду, бороду is the direct object of the action “to touch,” so it’s in the accusative case.

For most feminine nouns ending in -а, the singular forms are:

  • Nominative: бород-а
  • Accusative: бород-у

So:

  • борода (subject) – “the beard [does X / is Y]”
  • бороду (object) – “touch the beard,” “see the beard,” etc.

The stress also shifts:

  • бородá (nominative)
  • бóроду (accusative)
Why does the sentence say эту бороду (“this beard”) instead of just бороду (“the beard”)?

There are two main reasons:

  1. Reference to a specific, already mentioned beard
    Эту points back to that same beard we just talked about: the uncle’s long beard. It’s similar to saying this beard of his / that beard in English.

  2. Emphasis / clarity
    Using эту makes it very clear that the children like touching that particular beard (the uncle’s), not just any beard in general.

If you say only дети любят трогать бороду, without эту, it can sound more like a general statement:
“Children like touching beards (in general).”

So:

  • дети любят трогать эту бороду – “the children like touching this particular beard (his beard).”
  • дети любят трогать бороду – “children like touching beards” (more general, less anchored to the previous sentence).
Why do we say эту бороду and not эта борода or этой бороды?

Again, this is about case agreement.

The forms of эта (“this”) in singular feminine are:

  • Nominative: эта (used for subjects) – Эта борода длинная.
  • Accusative: эту (used for direct objects) – Я трогаю эту бороду.
  • Genitive/Dative/Instrumental/Prepositional: этой – у этой бороды, к этой бороде, etc.

In любят трогать эту бороду:

  • бороду is in the accusative (direct object of трогать)
  • the demonstrative must match: эту бороду

So:

  • эта борода – subject (nominative)
  • эту бороду – direct object (accusative)
  • этой бороды – some other role (genitive, etc.), not used here.
Instead of repeating бороду, could we use a pronoun like её or его бороду?

Yes, there are alternatives, each with a slightly different feel:

  1. …и дети любят трогать её.
    – “...and the children like to touch it.”
    – её here = “it/her,” referring to the beard.
    – Very natural if it’s 100% clear from context that её = “the beard.”

  2. …и дети любят трогать его бороду.
    – “...and the children like to touch his beard.”
    – его = “his,” referring to the uncle.
    – This makes the link to the uncle explicit but does not use эта (“this”).

  3. Original: …и дети любят трогать эту бороду.
    – “...and the children like to touch this beard (of his).”
    – Slightly more vivid: you’re pointing mentally at that specific beard previously mentioned.

All are grammatically correct. The original with эту бороду is very natural and nicely ties the two clauses together.

Why is there a comma before и in …борода, и дети любят…? In English we often don’t put a comma before “and.”

Russian punctuation rules are different from English.

Here we have two independent clauses:

  1. У дяди длинная борода – complete clause (subject = борода)
  2. дети любят трогать эту бороду – complete clause (subject = дети)

In Russian, when you join two independent clauses with и, а, но (and, but), you normally put a comma before the conjunction:

  • У дяди длинная борода, и дети любят трогать эту бороду.

In English, we might or might not use a comma (“The uncle has a long beard(,) and the children like to touch it.”) depending on style. But in Russian, this comma is required by the standard rules.

How does любят трогать work? Why is любят finite and трогать an infinitive?

This is a common and very productive pattern in Russian:

любить (to like / to love) + infinitive (to do something)

It means “to like doing something.”

In our sentence:

  • дети – “children” (3rd person plural subject)
  • любят – 3rd person plural present of любить (“they like / they love”)
  • трогать – infinitive of “to touch”

So:

  • дети любят трогать эту бороду
    = “The children like to touch this beard” / “The children like touching this beard.”

This pattern is used with many other verbs:

  • Я люблю читать. – “I like to read.”
  • Она любит петь. – “She likes to sing.”
  • Мы любим играть в футбол. – “We like playing football.”
Could we say любят потрогать instead of любят трогать? What’s the difference?

Both are possible, but they differ in aspect:

  • трогать – imperfective aspect

    • suggests a process, repeated/habitual or ongoing action
    • любят трогать ≈ “they like (in general) to touch / to be touching”

  • потрогать – perfective aspect

    • suggests a single, complete action, often “for a bit,” “to try doing it”
    • любят потрогать ≈ “they like to have a (little) touch” / “they like to (once in a while) give it a touch”

In practice:

  • дети любят трогать эту бороду
    – focuses on the habitual activity: they often/regularly touch it.

  • дети любят потрогать эту бороду
    – can sound like: they like to give it a (quick) touch now and then; the completion of the action is in focus.

Both work, but the original трогать is the most neutral way to express a general habit.

How would the sentence change if we wanted to say “My uncle has a long beard, and the children like to touch this beard”?

You would make дядя specific by adding мой in the genitive, because of у:

  • У моего дяди длинная борода, и дети любят трогать эту бороду.

Breakdown:

  • у
    • моего дяди
      • мой (my) → моего in the genitive masculine
      • дядя → дяди in the genitive
        → “at my uncle” / “my uncle has”

Everything else stays the same:

  • длинная борода – “a long beard”
  • дети любят трогать эту бороду – “the children like to touch this beard.”

So the full “my uncle” version is:

У моего дяди длинная борода, и дети любят трогать эту бороду.