Questions & Answers about У мене чотири книги.
Why does У мене mean I have?
Ukrainian very often expresses possession with a structure that is literally more like at me than I have.
So:
- У мене чотири книги.
- literally: At me, four books
- natural English: I have four books
This is one of the most common ways to say have in Ukrainian.
Why is it мене, not я?
Because мене is the form of я used after the preposition у/в in this pattern.
- я = I
- мене = me / of me depending on the structure
In у мене, the pronoun is not the subject the way I is in English. It is part of a prepositional phrase meaning roughly at me / with me.
So you say:
- у мене
- not у я
Is there a missing verb here? Shouldn’t it be У мене є чотири книги?