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- Topic: Russian >
- "We have a very good boss."
"We have a very good boss."
Translation:У нас очень хороший начальник.
16 Comments
I answered with "У нас есть" but it was marked incorrect; would there be a reason not to use есть in this case?
Hm. We use "у нас есть", if we want to intoduce something, to present something, to say that we have this.
But if we don't point that we have the boss, and if we want only to describe it, we don't use "есть"
У нас есть дочь - we have a daughter, we point that there is a daughter that relates to us
У нас добрая дочь - we have a kind daughter - we don't point that we possess a daughter, we point that our daughter is kind, we describe her
I hope that helps!
I think it helps, thank you! It's a subtle distinction, I will have to work hard to remember it. :)
Yeah, it was very tricky - I never would have guessed it if I hadn't gotten this marked wrong. I only remembered it pointed out that you don't use "есть" when it's something that you obviously have (like a voice)
So есть is more in the "ownership" side of the "have" spectrum, i guess...
11
"Начальника" is the genitive and the accusative cases of "начальник", and using either of them here makes no sense. If you meant to say "female boss", that would be "начальница".
Because that means "director", which would usually be the boss of your boss statistically saying...
