Questions & Answers about У отчима нет дочери.
Why is the word for "daughter" дочери instead of something like "дочи"?
The noun дочь (daughter) is highly irregular. In all cases except the nominative and accusative singular, it adds the special stem extension -ер- before the ending. Since it needs to be in the genitive case here, we add the genitive ending -и to that extended stem, making it дочери. The word мать (mother) follows this exact same pattern (матери).
Why does "daughter" need to be in the genitive case here?
In Russian, the word нет (meaning "there is no" or "does not have" in this context) always forces the noun expressing the absent thing into the genitive case.
Why isn't the stepfather the subject of the sentence?
Russian rarely uses a direct equivalent of the verb "to have." Instead, possession is expressed with the preposition у (by/at) followed by the possessor in the genitive case (отчима). Literally, this sentence translates to "At the stepfather there is no daughter."
What is the dictionary form of отчима?
The nominative (dictionary) form is отчим (stepfather). It is a regular masculine noun ending in a consonant, so it simply takes the standard -а ending in the genitive case after the preposition у.