Breakdown of У него много сил.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
много
a lot
сила
strength, force
Questions & Answers about У него много сил.
Why is "strength" in the plural here (сил) instead of singular?
In Russian, the word сила (strength or force) is often used in the plural when talking about someone's physical energy, stamina, or capacity to do things. So много сил literally means "a lot of strengths," which is the most natural way to say someone has "a lot of strength" or "a lot of energy" in Russian.
What case is сил in this sentence, and why?
It is in the genitive plural. The word много (a lot or many) always requires the noun that follows it to be in the genitive case. Since the sentence uses the plural concept of "strengths," it takes the genitive plural form.
How do we get the form сил from the dictionary form сила?
For most feminine nouns that end in -а, the genitive plural is formed by simply dropping the -а at the end. This is called a "zero ending." Therefore, сила becomes сил.
Why does the pronoun have an 'н' at the beginning (него) instead of just being его?
As a quick refresher from earlier lessons: whenever a third-person pronoun (like он, она, or они) directly follows a preposition (like у in this sentence), Russian adds an н- to the beginning of it. This makes it flow better in speech, so у его becomes у него.
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