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  5. "У меня есть ребёнок."

"У меня есть ребёнок."

Translation:I have a child.

November 7, 2015



У меня - I have У тебя - You have У него - He has У неё - She has У нас - We have У вас - They have У них - They have

У вас is said to a group of people who you are talking more directly, у них is said to a person/people when you are talking about someone else, for example you say to your teacher pointing at a group of students 'They have it'


kak vas zovut? vas is you, not they


I thought "vas" was the formal way of saying "you"?


It is indeed, but it's caused by the fact that in Russian you go formal by using plural forms of pronouns that refer to the person you are talking to. For example, "ty" is the proper translation of "you" when you're talking to a colleague, but you should use the plural form "vy" when talking to an adult stranger or somebody who's somehow superior to you.
This manner of switching to formal speech by the use of plural pronouns is not limited to Russian. Here's an article on how it's done in various languages:


That's the case in English too. For example: -I love you guys (plural) -Thank you, sir (formal) I dont see the problem.


У вас - you have*


number 1 post of the month!


i got confused tabkst


i dont know english, i speak spanish, i practice english


could anyone please explain the grammar here: У меня есть? I love this course ...wonderful


У меня есть (+ nominative noun) literally translates to by/at me there is (x thing). It means "I have (x thing)"

The basic structure is У + genitive noun (the person that is doing the possessing) + nominative noun (the thing being possessed)


Just to note something. Think it is important. In the old days, back here in my country (Serbia) we used to talk like that. Instead of: Ја имам which lierally means I have, we used to say У мене, which meant the same thing like in Russian. It is a less agressive way to say that you HAVE something. It was used with family, friends, even domestic animals, due to respect, but not for things, such as house. Today we use only more agressive way of expressing possession, but Russians kept it in the more broader sense. So when they say У меня есть, that goes for everything. I only wanted to emphasize that У меня есть is a way of expression possession in a more milder way. And it literally means "Inside me".


Why both Я and У are used as "I"?


Mightypotatoes states that у меня is used in that sentence as "by me"; As I understand, у is not referring to I, nor in any way English speakers normally use subjects (menya nor tebya are subjects); rather it indicates possession. Such an example is У тебя есть кошка, where is refers to "By you is a cat" whereas У меня есть кошка is "By me is a cat". The cat here is actually the subject, which is "being". Hope I was helpful.


"By me is a cat" in English means that a cat is proximate to me, not that I have a cat. How is a student on this site to know your version? There are no lessons.


What allows you but not me to have these notes? This site is garbage, only someone in the know can succeed.


That's very much as it is in Irish (although with a different word order): Tá [nominative noun] agam = Is … at me (literal translation, original word order) = … is at me (same words, natural order for English) = I have … (free translation to English).


What is the difference between y-you and y-I. Just context?


It is preposition. У меня ~ By me, У тебя ~ By you


Ребёнок can means son?


Sure. Child of any gender.


How do you pronounce ребёнок ? It is hard for me, I used other audio still don't know how to say it


Does it still make sense if I replace ребёнок with дитя?


How do you pronounce ребёнок? I did not quite get the pronunciation of the computer voice...


It's like rebyonok.


When should one use ест and when should one not use it?


It sounds like 'ree-bee-o-nok'.


Ré beu nok > Rebok


Does anyone hear ребёнок as re'd'yonak ?!


Why is it rébyonak instead of rebyónak? I thought ë always has the emphasis. Here it sounds that the first e is emphasized.


I have a child in time!


Why is U menya est' rebenok wrong?


"Ребёнок" is read /rebyonok/, I think that is the wrong part.


I wish when we activate the Latin version, that instead of written as "rebenok", it correctly turns into "er-ebyounok".


Why do I feel like the woman is saying the word 'child' wrong?


Who remembers this quote (english version) from Titanic?


Lmao i said i eat a child


I quit. Doulingo teaches no grammar. At best, it might be useful to learn vocabulary. But with the computer generated voices it is very hard to get a realistic speaking of words.


It is nobody's fault if you dont go and check the "tips and notes" section that every skill has in the browser version.


what's the difference between 'ya' and 'u' ? Don't they both mean "I" ? Sorry, no russian keyboard.


Ya still means I. U + genitive is stating there is something by another, indicating possession. (It's different than in English; English "I have a cat" compared to Russian "By me there is a cat")


Why are they using меня instead of я ?


Я is "I": я такеру = I am Takeru. However, when Russians write out possession, it is different than in English. They write "By I there is X", instead of "I have X". The меня is in the genitive case, a case indicating possession (also note however that "I" is not the subject; the subject is what's being possessed) Thus, У меня есть волк means "By - me - there is a - wolf"

Taken from Duolingo's Basics 2 Notes: English prefers to express ownership and “possession” with the verb “have”. In Russian “existence” is almost universally used instead (in the official/academic style «иметь» to have is OK to use).

Use it like that:

У A есть X ~ by A there is an X → A has an X The owner is in the Genitive case (more on that later) while X is formally the subject. For now we will only study the Genitive form for some pronouns.


Where do I find the basic notes?


When you are on the desktop version, go to any Skills such as Basics, Basics 2, Phrases, etc... There will be different levels shown, and below those, there will be some quick notes, called "Tips and Notes". They will be different per skill.


There are notes? I only have silly icons and lots of questions with no clue how to get them right. What notes? Are you on a mobile phone? And also no Cyrillic keyboard so all my typing is marked wrong. This site is garbage


You have made repeatedly clear on this and other sentence discussion boards that you think that this site is garbage - you use the word "site," not "app," which makes me think that you are using the actual web version. (The web version has notes; the app versions do not always, to my knowledge. I only ever use the app version after I have already reviewed the lesson on the web version.) Home -> Click on a skill such as "Alphabet" -> Click on the light bulb. I encourage you to scroll around and see what you can find.

NB - Duolingo's notes are helpful but are not all-inclusive. Many of us have also supplemented our learning on Duolingo with other sites such as RussianLessons.net and RussianForEveryone.com, which are able to go further into detail on certain aspects of grammar or usage.

Regarding a Cyrillic keyboard, there are other discussion boards on this topic, so I won't go into it here for brevity. You can also do a google search for instructions specific to your operating system or mobile device. It is all straight-forward.

We as a community welcome honest questions which help to contribute to the overall lessons within the course. If you feel that this site is not meeting your learning needs or uses methods which are not helpful, it is ok - we all learn differently. While I hope that Duolingo helps you reach your goals in learning Russian, you may find other sites or in-person courses at a local university more suited to you. I wish you the best in your learning.


For the n-th time: the fact that you are on a mobile phone doesn't mean you can't go and check the notes through your mobile phone's browser.


There are NO notes!


wheres the differnce between i have and do you have


it sounds like "ree-bee-o-nok".


Mj wouldn't buy that !


They talk so fast





What am i missing here? There is no lesson, no vocab, just questions I have never seen but somehow magically am supposed to know! Stupid way to "learn." Is that all there is to Duilingo?


Not really stupid, actually it's the best way to learn a language - by using it. And, you know, there are helpful hints in every task so you're not "magically" supposed to know something, you're just supposed to read them, think and finally find a correct answer, sometimes by trial and error method. No magic here ;)

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