Log inSign up

У тебя есть мой словарь?

У тебя есть мой словарь?
Do you have my dictionary?
From Lesson 37:Possession with pronouns (у меня есть)·Russian

Questions & Answers about У тебя есть мой словарь?

Why does this sentence use У тебя есть instead of a verb for 'to have'?
In Russian, the most common way to express possession is to say 'At [someone] there is [something].' У means 'at', тебя is 'you', and есть means 'is' or 'exists'. Literally, you are asking 'At you is my dictionary?'
Why is the word for 'you' тебя instead of ты?
The preposition у always forces the noun or pronoun that follows it into the Genitive case. Тебя is the Genitive form of the informal pronoun ты.
If the dictionary is the thing being owned, why isn't мой словарь in a different case?
In this specific 'have' construction, the thing being owned is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence. Because it is the subject doing the 'existing', мой словарь stays in the Nominative case (the basic dictionary form).
Словарь ends in a soft sign (-ь). How can I tell what gender it is?
Words ending in a soft sign can be either masculine or feminine in Russian, so you usually just have to memorize their gender. However, in this sentence, the masculine word мой (my) gives away that словарь is a masculine noun!

Learn У тебя есть мой словарь and more in Russian

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Russian →