Breakdown of У этого котёнка белые лапы, длинные усы и смешной хвост.
белый
white
и
and
длинный
long
этот
this
Questions & Answers about У этого котёнка белые лапы, длинные усы и смешной хвост.
Why does Russian use У этого котёнка instead of a verb like has?
Russian usually does not use a direct equivalent of English have in simple possession sentences.
Instead, it commonly uses this pattern:
У + possessor (Genitive) + possessed thing
So:
У этого котёнка белые лапы...
literally means something like:
By this kitten, there are white paws...
In natural English, that becomes:
This kitten has white paws...
This у + Genitive structure is one of the most important patterns for possession in Russian.
Why is it этого котёнка? What case is that?
Both words are in the genitive singular because they follow у.
- этот → этого
- котёнок → котёнка
So:
- этот котёнок = this kitten (nominative)
- у этого котёнка = of / by this kitten (genitive after у)
A learner may notice that котёнка looks like the accusative too. That is true: for animate masculine nouns, the genitive and accusative singular often look the same. But here it is definitely genitive, because у requires it.