Learn Hardcore Russian: У моего отца совсем другой характер, он шутит даже на серьёзных встречах. - My father has a completely different character; he jokes even at serious meetings.

У моего отца is a common Russian way to express possession. Literally, it means something like “by my father” or “at my father’s (place/side)”, but in this context it’s best understood as “my father has”.

The pattern is:

у + [noun/pronoun in Genitive] = “[someone] has …”
So у моего отца (Genitive)
- [что?] (subject) ≈ “my father has [what?]”.

Compare:

У моего отца другой характер. – “My father has a different personality/character.”
У меня есть машина. – “I have a car.”
У неё много друзей. – “She has many friends.”

Russian usually avoids a direct equivalent of “to have” (like иметь) in everyday speech and uses у + Genitive instead.

What case is моего отца, and why do both words change?

Both моего and отца are in the Genitive singular.

отец (father) is a masculine noun:
- Nominative: отец
- Genitive: отца
мой (my) is a possessive pronoun that declines like an adjective:
- Masculine nominative: мой
- Masculine genitive: моего

Because the preposition у requires the Genitive case, both the noun and the pronoun must be in Genitive and agree in gender, number, and case:

у моего отца
у моей мамы
у наших друзей

So the preposition у is what forces моего and отца into the Genitive.

Could I just say Мой отец совсем другой instead of У моего отца совсем другой характер?

You can say Мой отец совсем другой, but it’s less precise and slightly different in nuance.

У моего отца совсем другой характер focuses on his character/personality as a specific trait.
Мой отец совсем другой is more general: “My father is completely different (from what you think / from others / from me)” without saying in what way.

Native speakers often specify the trait:

У моего отца другой характер.
Мой отец другой человек.
Мой отец совсем другой по характеру.

So the original sentence highlights his personality as the thing that is different, rather than just saying “he is different” in a vague way.

What does совсем add to другой характер? Could I say очень другой характер?

Совсем here means “completely, totally, entirely” and intensifies другой:

другой характер – “a different character”
совсем другой характер – “a completely different character”

Using очень with другой (очень другой) is unnatural in Russian. Другой doesn’t usually combine with очень the way adjectives like “big” or “interesting” do.

Natural intensifiers with другой are:

совсем другой характер
совершенно другой характер
абсолютно другой характер

So совсем makes the difference stronger: not just a bit different, but really different.

What exactly does характер mean here? Is it like “character” in English (as in a person in a story)?

In this sentence, характер means personality / temperament / disposition, not “fictional character”.

характер – someone’s personal traits: patience, sense of humor, seriousness, etc.
- У него тяжёлый характер. – “He has a difficult personality.”
- У неё мягкий характер. – “She has a gentle character.”

For “a character in a book/film/play”, Russians usually say:

персонаж – “character” (in a story)
- Главный персонаж романа… – “The main character of the novel…”

So другой характер = “a different personality/temperament”, not “a different fictional character”.

Why is there a comma before он шутит instead of using и (“and”)?

In Russian, it’s very common to connect two closely related independent clauses just with a comma, without a conjunction like и.

У моего отца совсем другой характер, он шутит даже на серьёзных встречах.

This is called a бессоюзное сложное предложение (compound sentence without a conjunction). English would more naturally use:

a period: “My father has a completely different personality. He cracks jokes even at serious meetings.”
or “and”: “..., and he cracks jokes ...”
or a semicolon.

You can also say in Russian:

У моего отца совсем другой характер, и он шутит даже на серьёзных встречах.

Adding и makes the connection a bit more explicit and is stylistically a bit “neater”, but the original with just a comma is very common in speech and informal writing.

What tense and aspect is шутит, and why not пошутит or another form?

Шутит is present tense, imperfective aspect, 3rd person singular, from шутить (“to joke”).

он шутит – “he jokes / he is joking / he cracks jokes (habitually)”

Here it describes a general, repeated behavior (what he tends to do), not a single instance.

If you used the perfective пошутить:

он пошутит – “he will crack a joke (once, at some point in the future)”

That would shift the meaning toward a single future act, not a habitual trait. Since the sentence is about his character (something he does regularly), the imperfective шутит is the natural choice.

Why is даже placed before на серьёзных встречах? Could I say Он даже шутит на серьёзных встречах?

Both word orders are possible, with slightly different emphasis:

Он шутит даже на серьёзных встречах.
- Emphasis: “even at serious meetings he jokes.”
- Focuses on the surprising place/situation where he jokes.
Он даже шутит на серьёзных встречах.
- Emphasis: “he even jokes at serious meetings.”
- Focuses a bit more on the action itself being unexpected.

In practice, both are acceptable and natural. The original version makes the contrast “serious meetings vs joking” especially clear by putting даже right before на серьёзных встречах.

What case is на серьёзных встречах, and why do both words have those endings?

На серьёзных встречах is in the Prepositional plural.

встреча (meeting):
- Nominative singular: встреча
- Prepositional plural: встречах
серьёзный (serious) as an adjective:
- Masculine nominative singular: серьёзный
- Prepositional plural: серьёзных

The preposition на with the meaning “at / in (a location or event)” usually takes the Prepositional case:

singular: на встрече – “at the meeting”
plural: на встречах – “at meetings”

Adjectives and the nouns they modify must agree in gender, number, and case, so:

на серьёзных встречах = “at serious meetings” (Prepositional plural, both words).

Why is it встречах and not something like встречам or встречы?

Because of the preposition на and the static location meaning.

на + Prepositional is used for location: “on / at / in” (where?):
- на столе – “on the table”
- на работе – “at work”
- на встрече / на встречах – “at a meeting / at meetings”

Встречах is Prepositional plural (answering где? – “where?”).

встречам would be Dative plural (“to/for meetings” – к встречам, по встречам).
встречи is Nominative or Accusative plural (“meetings” as a subject or direct object).

Since the sentence talks about where he jokes – at serious meetings – the Prepositional form встречах is required.

Is встреча always a formal “meeting”? Could I use совещание or собрание instead?

Встреча is quite broad; it can be:

informal: “a meet-up, a date, a casual meeting”
formal: “a business meeting, an official meeting”

In a business/official context, you might also hear:

совещание – a work meeting focused on discussion/decision-making.
собрание – a gathering/assembly (school meeting, general meeting, etc.).

You could say:

...он шутит даже на серьёзных совещаниях.
...он шутит даже на серьёзных собраниях.

Both are grammatically correct. They just specify the type of meeting more clearly:

совещание – more like a work meeting.
собрание – a more general assembly.

Could I drop моего and just say У отца совсем другой характер?

Yes, У отца совсем другой характер is grammatically correct and natural. It would usually be understood as “My father has a completely different personality” if it’s clear from context which father you mean.

The difference:

У моего отца – explicitly “my father”.
У отца – “(the) father”; in context usually “my/our father”, or “(my) dad”.

In spoken language, if everyone knows you’re talking about your own family, у отца is very common and sounds slightly more colloquial or familiar.