У маленькой птицы жёлтый клюв, а у взрослой — тёмный.

the bird

Breakdown of У маленькой птицы жёлтый клюв, а у взрослой — тёмный.

• тёмный: dark
• взрослый: adult
• маленький: little

Questions & Answers about У маленькой птицы жёлтый клюв, а у взрослой — тёмный.

Why does Russian use у here instead of a verb meaning has?

Russian very often expresses possession with the pattern у + genitive + nominative noun.

So:

• У маленькой птицы жёлтый клюв
  literally means something like At the small bird, [there is] a yellow beak.

In natural English, we translate that as The small bird has a yellow beak.

This у + genitive structure is especially common for:

• possession in general
• body parts
• things belonging to someone or something

So here, Russian is not using a direct verb to have. It is using its normal possession pattern.

Why is птицы not птица?

Because птицы is in the genitive singular, and у requires the genitive.

The dictionary form is:

• птица = bird

After у, it becomes:

• у птицы = of the bird / at the bird

So:

• у маленькой птицы = of the small bird / the small bird has

That is why you do not see nominative птица here.

Why is маленькой ending in -ой?