Breakdown of У меня есть новый ноутбук для командировки.
новый
new
меня
me
у
at, by
есть
is, there is, to have
Questions & Answers about У меня есть новый ноутбук для командировки.
Why does the word for "business trip" end in -и here (командировки)?
The preposition для (for) always requires the Genitive case to show purpose or intention. The dictionary form of the word is командировка (a feminine noun). To say "for the business trip," we must put it into the Genitive case, which changes the ending.
I thought feminine nouns ending in -а change to -ы in the Genitive case. Why does командировка change to командировки?
You are right that feminine nouns ending in -а usually change to -ы in the Genitive case! However, Russian has a strict spelling rule: after the letters к, г, х, ж, ч, ш, and щ, you can never write ы. You must write и instead. Because there is a к right before the ending, командировка becomes командировки.
Why is новый ноутбук (new laptop) in the Nominative case if the sentence starts with the Genitive phrase У меня?
In the Russian "I have" structure (У меня есть...), the person who possesses the object is in the Genitive case (меня). However, the object being owned is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence! Literally, this sentence says "By me there is a new laptop." Because it is the subject, новый ноутбук stays in the basic Nominative case.