У козы маленькие рога, а у оленя рога намного больше.

The goat has small horns, and the deer’s horns are much bigger.

Breakdown of У козы маленькие рога, а у оленя рога намного больше.

• маленький: small
• а: and
• коза: the goat
• рог: the horn

Questions & Answers about У козы маленькие рога, а у оленя рога намного больше.

Why does Russian say у козы and у оленя instead of just using коза and олень?

This is a very common Russian way to express possession.

Russian often says:

у + genitive + [something possessed]

Literally, у козы маленькие рога is something like At the goat, small horns or The goat has small horns.

So:

• у козы = the goat has / at the goat
• у оленя = the deer has / at the deer

Russian does not usually use a direct equivalent of English have in simple possession sentences like this.

Why are the forms козы and оленя used?

Because after у, the noun goes into the genitive case.

Here:

• коза → козы
• олень → оленя

So:

• у козы = of the goat / at the goat
• у оленя = of the deer / at the deer

This is just the normal case pattern required by у in this kind of possession structure.

Why is it рога and not рог?