Breakdown of Где рыба? Её нет на кухне.
где
where / wherever
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
кухня
kitchen
её
her (acc)
нет
there is no / is not present
рыба
fish
Questions & Answers about Где рыба? Её нет на кухне.
Why does "it" translate to её here instead of его?
In this sentence, "it" refers back to рыба (fish). Because рыба ends in -а, it is a feminine noun, meaning we treat it as она (she/it). The word нет (is not / there is no) forces the missing object into the genitive case, and the genitive of она is её.
Why does the sentence say Её нет instead of just using the regular subject pronoun (Она нет)?
When expressing that something is missing or absent in Russian, you use the word нет. The strict rule is that the missing thing cannot be the subject of the sentence; it must be in the genitive case. Russian literally phrases this as "Of her there-is-not." You cannot say Она нет.
Wait, doesn't её usually mean "her"?
Yes! But remember that in Russian, inanimate objects and animals also have a grammatical gender. Since рыба is feminine, Russians refer to the fish as "she" and use the corresponding pronoun "her" (её) when it needs to be in the genitive case.
Why do we use the preposition на here instead of в for "in the kitchen"?
Even though в usually means "in" and на means "on", Russian has a few specific locations that traditionally take на. The word кухня (kitchen) is one of these exceptions, so "in the kitchen" (in the prepositional case) is always на кухне.
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