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Questions & Answers about У мене немає часу.
What is the literal translation of У мене немає часу?
Literally, it translates as "At me there is no time," which means in natural English "I don't have time."
Why does Ukrainian use У мене instead of starting with Я like in English?
Ukrainian expresses possession with a locative construction. У мене literally means "at me," indicating that something (in this case, time) is possessed—or rather, not possessed—by the speaker. This differs from English, where possession is directly expressed as "I have."
What is the role of немає in the sentence and how does it relate to the positive form?
Немає is the negative existential form used to indicate that something is absent. In the positive version, you would say У мене є час (“I have time”). By using немає, the sentence conveys the absence of time, meaning "I don't have time."
Why is час rendered as часу in this sentence?
In Ukrainian, when expressing the absence of something, the noun that is lacking is typically put in the genitive case. Час changes to часу to reflect that time is absent from the speaker’s possession.
Can this sentence be expressed in another way in Ukrainian?
Yes, you can also say Я не маю часу, which literally means "I do not have time." Both structures are grammatically correct, though У мене немає часу is a more common and idiomatic way to express lack of possession in Ukrainian.