Breakdown of У этой проблемы есть важный аспект.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
проблема
problem
важный
important
у
at, by
есть
is, there is, to have
аспект
aspect
Questions & Answers about У этой проблемы есть важный аспект.
Can we use the formal predicate представлять собой in this sentence instead of у ... есть?
No, because представлять собой equates to 'to be' or 'to represent', not 'to have'. If you wrote Эта проблема представляет собой важный аспект, it would mean 'This problem IS an important aspect', fundamentally changing the meaning. We use у ... есть here because the problem possesses or contains an aspect, rather than being defined as one.
Is it normal to use the у + Genitive construction for abstract concepts like a 'problem' having an 'aspect'?
Yes. While you first learned у меня есть for physical, personal possession, Russian uses this exact same structure for abstract and inanimate possession. The problem (эта проблема) takes the Genitive case after у just like a person would.
Could we drop есть here and just say У этой проблемы важный аспект?
It is much better to keep есть here. You usually drop есть when describing a physical attribute of something (like У него голубые глаза - He has blue eyes). Here, you are declaring the very existence of the aspect, so есть is required.
Why does the sentence start with У этой проблемы rather than the grammatical subject важный аспект?
Russian word order places known information (the topic) at the beginning and new information (the focus) at the end. The context assumes we are already discussing the problem, so У этой проблемы comes first. The new information, the fact that it has a важный аспект, lands at the end for emphasis.
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