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- "У неё есть велосипед."
41 Comments
Yes, in this particular case. In principle, the accusative form is exactly the same here. But be careful: there are two forms of this word (in both cases): "неё" and "её". In all instances I can think of right now you would use "неё" whenever these cases (genetive or accusative) follow prepositions.
What is the difference between "does she have" and "she has"? I cant find a differencw between those two sentences.
Just the question mark, the context and the emphasis of whoever is speaking... I believe
Native russian speaker here, I second this. You just have to pick up on the intonation to figure out whether it is a statement or a question. This happens in English, too. Imagine someone saying:
They have a bike now? (question)
... Versus:
They have a bike now. (statement)
I hope that helped!
So the difference between неё and нее is rather it is a question or not?
Hope this means I'm starting to get a handle on some Russian pronunciation, but I'm hearing the д at the end of велосипед pronounced with a "t" sound which also occurs in мёд and город too so I believe I'm hearing this correctly.
Yes. That's a general pattern: at the end of words (but not exclusively!) consonants become unvoiced. Hence д→т, б→п, в→ф, г→к, з→с, ж→ш.
However, they become voiced when followed by a vowel, so you will hear a clear "д" sound in e.g. "У неё нет велосипеда".
Why is it not "Он or Она" if its he or she, why change to "У него or У нее". Is it because "y" is about possessing something?
Russian has a peculiar way of expressing possession, which I already described earlier in this thread -- please read the entire thread before posting duplicate questions. In any case, I am quoting myself:
The Russian way of saying "A has B" is "У A (genitive) есть B (nominative)" which literally translates into "B is by/with A".
Is there a different word for "bike" as a reason for getting that wrong?
1489
I said "She has a bike" but DL said I was wrong and corrected it to "She's a bike"... Um okay.
Most likely you've made a typo somewhere. Once DL thinks you are wrong, it tries to "recover", and the version it offers may not always match the one you had in mind. Nor it is always grammatical, like in this case: DL has probably a hard-coded rule that "she's" is an acceptable short-hand for "she has" (which it is in expressions like "she's got...", but not here), and then it suggests it even when it's wrong.
How come 'Y' is both They and She? ('She' in this question, 'They' in the previous I got)
"У" is neither "they" nor "she". It's a preposition meaning "by" or "with".
The Russian way of saying "A has B" is "У A (genitive) есть B (nominative)" which literally translates into "B is by/with A".
- 507
If the bike is a mountain bike, then the name "байк"is wide used for it among cyclists. Context eliminates confusion. In normal life, a bicycle can be shortened to "велик" - among children, or "вел" - among adults.
I have written 'she has a bicycle' several times and I am marked wrong. How do I signal this or am I missing something
No, because it is "She is a bike". If you need to say "She has a bike" you have to use preposition "У" and Genitive pronoun, for example У неё = She has, У него = He has, У них = They have, У нас = We have
That's just how Russian grammar works. "Y" pretty much means "with", and "неё есть" in that context means "she has/possesses". So the direct translation would be " With her she has a (insert item)", but we just say "She has a (insert item)".
I didnt invent the Russian language, so I can't tell you why this is what you use in this case, but you just have to learn that this is the correct usage of this type of sentence.
