Breakdown of У сына плохие отметки по математике.
плохой
bad
сын
son
математика
mathematics
отметка
mark, grade
Questions & Answers about У сына плохие отметки по математике.
Why is there no word for "my" before "son" in the Russian sentence?
In Russian, possessive pronouns like мой (my) are often left out when the context makes it obvious. Since a parent is usually the one talking about their child's grades, saying У сына implies "my son" naturally. Adding У моего сына wouldn't be wrong, but it's unnecessary unless you need to contrast him with someone else's son.
Why isn't the word есть used here in the У ... possession structure?
When describing a specific characteristic of something a person has, rather than simply stating that the thing exists, Russian often drops есть. Here, the focus is on the fact that the marks are плохие (bad). If you were just confirming that he receives grades at all, you would use есть, but since you are describing the quality of the grades, it is left out.
Why is "in maths" translated as по математике?
When talking about a school subject, a course, or a field of study, Russian uses the preposition по followed by the dative case. The nominative form is математика, and its dative form is математике. You use this same structure for other subjects, like экзамен по истории (an exam in history).
What is the difference between отметки and оценки?