Questions & Answers about У меня шесть друзей.
Russian normally expresses possession with the structure у + person (in the genitive case) rather than a verb like иметь.
- У меня literally means “at me” or “by me”.
- So У меня шесть друзей is more like “At me there are six friends” → “I have six friends.”
The verb иметь (to have) exists, but:
- It sounds formal, bookish, or is used in set phrases.
- It is not usually used for everyday “I have a friend / a car / a problem” statements about people or personal belongings.
So У меня... is the natural, everyday way to say “I have …” in Russian.
У is a preposition meaning roughly “at / by / near (someone)”.
It normally takes the genitive case.
- я (I) → меня (genitive: of me)
- у меня → “at me / by me”
So the structure is:
- У + кого? (who has it?) → У меня, у тебя, у него, у неё, у нас, у вас, у них
- Then usually есть or just a noun: У меня шесть друзей.
So possession in Russian is literally expressed as “By me (there are) six friends.”
Both are correct, but the nuance is slightly different:
У меня есть шесть друзей.
- Neutral, introducing new information, often answering “Do you have … ?”
- Clear emphasis on the fact that the friends exist / I possess them.
У меня шесть друзей.
- More like “I have six friends (as opposed to some other number)”.
- Often used when the number or quantity is the important part, not the fact of possession itself.
In many everyday contexts, Russians omit есть when it’s obvious we’re just describing what someone has, especially if some other detail (like the number) is the focus.
Because of two facts:
The basic nouns:
- Singular: друг (friend)
- Nominative plural: друзья
After numbers 5 and higher (5, 6, 7, …), Russian uses the genitive plural of the noun.
The genitive plural of друг is:
- друзей
So:
- один друг (1 friend) – nominative singular
- два / три / четыре друга (2/3/4 friends) – genitive singular
- пять / шесть / семь друзей (5/6/7 friends) – genitive plural
Therefore with шесть you must use друзей.
The dictionary form is друг (nominative singular).
Here are the most important forms you’re likely to meet:
Singular:
- Nominative (who?/what?): друг – friend
- Genitive (of whom?): друга
- Dative (to whom?): другу
- Accusative (whom?): друга (for animate)
- Instrumental (with whom?): другом
- Prepositional (about whom?): друге
Plural:
- Nominative: друзья – friends
- Genitive: друзей – of friends, or after 5+
- Dative: друзьям
- Accusative: друзей (animate)
- Instrumental: друзьями
- Prepositional: друзьях
So друзей is the genitive plural (and also the accusative plural for people).
Russian has special rules for nouns after numbers:
- 1 → nominative singular
- один друг
- 2, 3, 4 → genitive singular
- два друга, три друга, четыре друга
- 5–20, 25–30, etc. → genitive plural
- пять друзей, шесть друзей, семь друзей, десять друзей
So шесть (6) falls into the 5+ group, which automatically requires genitive plural: друзей.
This pattern is very regular across most countable nouns.
друг / друзья / друзей usually refers to male friends or a mixed group (men + women).
If you specifically want female friends, you use:
- Singular: подруга – (female) friend
- Plural: подруги
- Genitive plural (after 5+): подруг
So:
- У меня шесть подруг. – I have six female friends.
- У меня шесть друзей. – I have six (male or mixed) friends.
In many real-life situations, друзей is taken generically unless you want to be very clear about gender.
Using друг (friend):
- У меня один друг. – I have one friend.
- У меня два друга. – I have two friends.
- У меня три друга. – I have three friends.
- У меня четыре друга. – I have four friends.
- У меня шесть друзей. – I have six friends.
Notice the pattern:
- 1 → друг (nominative singular)
- 2–4 → друга (genitive singular)
- 5+ → друзей (genitive plural)
This is grammatically possible but sounds unnatural in normal speech.
- In neutral, everyday Russian, you either say:
- У меня есть шесть друзей.
- У меня шесть друзей.
Putting есть at the end (…друзей есть) is usually only done for very special emphasis or in poetic / stylized language, not in standard conversation.
Yes, you can, and it’s correct, but the emphasis shifts.
У меня шесть друзей.
- Neutral: I have six friends.
- Focus more on me and the fact/number of my friends.
Шесть друзей у меня.
- Emphasis on “six friends”, often contrasting with something else.
- Could be like: It’s six friends that I have (not fewer, not more / not someone else).
The basic meaning stays the same, but word order in Russian often shows what part of the sentence is being highlighted.
Approximate pronunciation:
шесть → [shest’] – Russian ш is a hard “sh” sound.
- The final ть is soft; you slightly “palatalize” the т (tongue higher, closer to the palate).
друзей → [dru-zyey]
- дру like “droo” in droop (but shorter).
- з is like English z.
- ей is like “yay” or “yei” (close to English yay but shorter).
Spoken smoothly together: шесть друзей → roughly shest’ dru-zyey.
The друзей has the stress on -зей.
Yes, Russian numbers decline, including шесть.
- Nominative: шесть друзей – six friends
- Instrumental (with whom?): с шестью друзьями – with six friends
So:
- У меня шесть друзей. – I have six friends.
- Я гуляю с шестью друзьями. – I am walking with six friends.
In the instrumental, шесть changes to шестью, and друзей changes to друзьями.