Questions & Answers about У тебя есть сахар и соль?
The translation says "Do you have", but the Russian says у тебя есть. Why is it phrased this way?
In Russian, possession is expressed differently than in English. Instead of using a verb for "to have", Russians say "At [person] there is". The preposition у means "at" or "by", and it requires the following word to be in the Genitive case. That is why the basic pronoun ты (you) changes to its Genitive form, тебя. So, у тебя есть literally translates to "At you there is".
Since "sugar and salt" are the things I am asking about, why aren't сахар and соль in the Accusative (object) case?
Because of how the "having" phrase works in Russian! In the literal translation "At you there is sugar and salt", the sugar and salt are actually the subjects doing the existing. Since they are the subjects of the verb есть (is/exists), they stay in their basic dictionary form, which is the Nominative case.
The word соль ends in a soft sign (ь). How do I know its gender?
Nouns ending in a soft sign can be either masculine or feminine, and there is no strict rule to tell them apart just by looking. The word соль (salt) happens to be feminine. You just have to memorize the gender for soft-sign nouns as you learn them!
How do you form a yes/no question like this without a word like "Do"?
Russian doesn't use helper verbs like "do" or "does" for questions. To turn the statement У тебя есть сахар (You have sugar) into a question, you simply keep the exact same word order and raise your pitch when speaking. In writing, you just add a question mark!