Questions & Answers about У дедушки и бабушки есть старый дом.
Why are we using у and есть to say "have"?
In Russian, you usually don't use a verb that translates directly to "have." Instead, you use the construction У (At) + the possessor in the Genitive case + есть (is) + the object in the Nominative case. Literally, this sentence says "At the grandfather and grandmother there is an old house."
If дедушка is a masculine noun, why does it change to дедушки like a feminine noun?
Even though дедушка (grandfather) is masculine, it ends in -а, so it changes its endings exactly like a feminine noun ending in -а. To form the Genitive case, we drop the -а. Normally we would add -ы, but a special spelling rule says we can never write ы after the letter к. So, we write -и instead.
Does бабушки follow the exact same spelling rule?
Yes! The dictionary form is бабушка (grandmother). Since it ends in -ка, we drop the -а and add -и instead of -ы because of that same spelling rule (never write ы after к).
Do both "grandfather" and "grandmother" have to be in the Genitive case here?