У меня шесть друзей.

I have six friends.

Breakdown of У меня шесть друзей.

• друг: the friend
• я: I
• шесть: six

Questions & Answers about У меня шесть друзей.

Why does Russian use У меня instead of something like Я имею to say “I have”?

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.

What does У меня literally mean, grammatically?

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.”