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Questions & Answers about У мене є новий телефон.
What does У мене mean in this sentence?
It literally translates to "at me" and is used to indicate possession. Instead of a verb like "to have," Ukrainian employs this prepositional construction to show that something exists in one’s possession.
What role does є play in the sentence?
Є is an existential verb meaning "exists" or "there is." In this context, it connects the possessor phrase with the item possessed, effectively conveying that "a new phone exists with me" or, more naturally, "I have a new phone."
How do the adjective новий and the noun телефон work grammatically together?
The adjective новий (meaning "new") directly modifies the noun телефон (meaning "phone"). They agree in gender (masculine) and number (singular), following standard adjective–noun agreement rules in Ukrainian.
Why doesn’t Ukrainian use a direct equivalent of the English verb "to have" in this construction?
Ukrainian typically expresses possession by using a construction that indicates location—here, У мене—combined with the existential verb є. This structure means that something "exists with" or "is at" the possessor, rather than employing a standalone verb for possession as in English.
Is the word order in У мене є новий телефон fixed, and what does it emphasize?
The standard word order places the possessor first (У мене), followed by the existential verb (є) and then the possessed item (новий телефон). This order emphasizes who has the item before introducing what the item is. Although Ukrainian word order can be flexible for stylistic or emphatic reasons, this is the most neutral and commonly used structure.
What grammatical cases are involved in this construction?
The phrase У мене is a fixed idiomatic expression used to indicate possession. While in other contexts prepositions might require the locative or genitive case, У мене is treated as a standard phrase. The noun phrase новий телефон appears in the nominative case to form the predicate of the sentence with the existential verb є.