Questions & Answers about У Анны есть три собаки.
Why is the word for dogs собаки? Is that the plural form?
It looks exactly like the plural, but it is actually the genitive singular! In Russian, after the numbers 2, 3, and 4, you must use the genitive singular form of the noun. For the feminine noun собака, the genitive singular changes the ending from -а to -и, making it собаки.
Why does the sentence start with У Анны instead of just using a verb for 'to have'?
Russian rarely uses a direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, it uses the structure 'At [person] there is...'. The word У means 'at' or 'by', and it requires the next word to be in the genitive case. So, Анна becomes Анны. Literally, this sentence translates to 'At Anna there are three dogs'.
Why do we use есть if we are talking about three dogs? Shouldn't the verb be plural?
In this possession structure, есть acts as a fixed word meaning 'there exists' or 'there is/are'. You do not need to change it to a plural form, even though we are talking about multiple dogs.
Does the number три change depending on the gender of the noun?
No, три (three) and четыре (four) stay the same for all genders. Only the numbers one and two change based on whether the noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter. For example, if Anna had two dogs, you would need to use the special feminine form for two: две собаки.