Questions & Answers about У нас хорошие отношения с отчимом.
Why is отношения in the plural form when the English translation says "a good relationship"?
When talking about an interpersonal relationship between people, Russian almost always uses the plural form отношения. If you use the singular form отношение, it usually translates to "attitude" (for example, your attitude toward someone or something).
Why does отчим (stepfather) change to отчимом here?
It is in the instrumental case because it follows the preposition с (meaning "with"). Since отчим is a regular masculine noun ending in a consonant, it takes the standard -ом ending.
If we wanted to say "with the mother" or "with the daughter" to practice this lesson's nouns, how would the end of the sentence change?
You would need the instrumental forms of those irregular feminine nouns to go with the preposition с. "With the mother" becomes с матерью, and "with the daughter" becomes с дочерью. Notice how they both add the special -ер- stem before the -ью ending, making them look very different from regular feminine nouns.
Could I use the verb иметь (to have) and say Мы имеем хорошие отношения instead?
While grammatically correct, it sounds extremely formal or academic, much like an official business document. For everyday personal relationships, native speakers strongly prefer the У нас... (literally "at us are...") construction used in this sentence.