Breakdown of У тёти около сорока книг по истории, и она гордится этой коллекцией.
книга
the book
и
and
она
she
по
on
Questions & Answers about У тёти около сорока книг по истории, и она гордится этой коллекцией.
Why does the sentence start with У тёти instead of something like Тётя имеет?
Russian usually expresses possession with the construction у + [genitive] rather than a verb like to have.
- у тёти literally: at (the) aunt’s / by the aunt
- In meaning: the aunt has …
The more “literal” тётя имеет is grammatically possible but:
- sounds formal, bookish, or unnatural in everyday speech, and
- is much less common than у тёти есть … or just у тёти ….
So У тёти около сорока книг… is the standard, natural way to say “My aunt has about forty books…”.
Why is it тёти and not тётя or тётю after у?
у always takes the genitive case.
- Nominative: тётя (aunt – as the subject)
- Genitive: тёти (of the aunt / the aunt’s)
Because we use у + genitive to show possession, we must say у тёти, not *у тётя or *у тётю.
What exactly does около mean here, and why is it followed by сорока?