Questions & Answers about У меня есть пять долларов.
Why is it долларов instead of just доллары?
After numbers 5 and higher (like пять), Russian requires the noun being counted to be in the genitive plural case. Since доллар (dollar) is a masculine noun ending in a hard consonant, its genitive plural form is made by adding -ов.
Would the ending change if I had two dollars instead of five?
Yes! The numbers 2, 3, and 4 take the genitive singular case. So, for two dollars, you would say два доллара. The genitive plural form долларов is specifically for quantities of 5 or more (up to 20, where the rules reset based on the last digit).
Does the word пять change its case here?
No, пять stays in its basic dictionary form. In the Russian possession structure У меня есть... (literally 'At me is...'), the thing being possessed is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence. Here, the subject is the phrase 'five dollars'.
Is доллар treated as a normal masculine noun even though it is a foreign word?
Yes! In Russian, loanwords are usually assigned a gender based on their spelling. Because доллар ends in a consonant, it is treated exactly like a native Russian masculine noun and follows all the regular grammar rules, including taking the -ов ending in the genitive plural.
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