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- "Тебе есть шестнадцать?"
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is this an alternative way of phrasing тебе шестнадцать лет? or is there some subtle difference
There is a difference. If you're asking "Тебе шестнадцать лет?" then you're just wondering whether or not the person is 16. But with "Тебе есть шестнадцать?" you're asking if the person already is sixteen years old.
1628
I see. So if someone is 17, they would still answer yes if it was phrased this way?
> So if someone is 17, they would still answer yes if it was phrased this way?
"Тебе шестнадцать лет?" - нет
"Тебе есть шестнадцать?" - да
есть is a tricky one, it can be both "eat" and "there is" you have kinda guess it by context(although, as far as I've seen, "there is" exists only in infinitive, in past it'd be был/а/о (I am still studying so take all I said with a grain of salt, it is what I think I can remember)
Whenever I say шестнадцать into the microphone (in speaking exercises) it never accepts that word, even though my pronunciation is perfect. It must be some mistake, because it only happens with that number and I noticed it in more than one example. I reported it (in a way), hopefully somebody looks into this.
- 174
Same issue here. The audio tests seem pretty sensitive for words with many syllables, like the teen numbers.
I thought that if 'есть' is not in a 'у' phrase, it means 'eat' and not 'have'. How is that "rule" working here?
- 768
"есть" is the infinitive of "to eat", and also the third person present form of "to be". There is no such "у" phrase rule, but "to be" happens to be the verb that is by far more common when "у" is around.
Here the third person present form of to be is used explicitly. It is omitted in present sentences normally, ("Он учитель" instead of "Он есть учитель" for "he is a teacher"), so that is why seeing "есть" for "to be" without "у" or special emphasis is not so common.
The Russian present tense verb есть ("is/are") is omitted in normal circumstances,
Тебе шестнадцать? "Are you sixteen?"
except when used for emphasis,
Тебе есть шестнадцать? "ARE you sixteen [already? yet?]?"
Dare I ask, why is it proposing "have you TURNED sixteen" as a translation? Is it said the same as "are you sixteen?"
The correct translation of, "Have you turned sixteen?" is, "Тебе исполнилось шестнадцать?"
"Тебе есть шестнадцать?" translates as, "Are you at least sixteen?"
"Are you sixteen?" translates as, "Тебе шестнадцать?"
It should be correct. The word "есть" is normally omitted in the present tense, so it adds emphasis when left in.
Тебе шестнадцать? - Are you sixteen?
Тебе есть шестнадцать? Are you already sixteen? (Colloquially)
It appears that лет can be omitted: this is always possible, or only in some sentences ?
Because "ты" is declined to the dative case "тебе" meaning "to you," it's obvious that you're talking about years of age. So yes, лет is understood here.
If you were asking if a person has sixteen of something else, "ты" would decline to the accusative case "тебя" together with the preposition "у."
У тебя есть шестнадцать свечей? "Do you have sixteen candles?"
This is a bad translation!
The correct translation of, "Have you turned sixteen?" is, "Тебе исполнилось шестнадцать?"
"Тебе есть шестнадцать?" translates as, "Are you at least sixteen?"
"Are you sixteen?" translates as, "Тебе шестнадцать?"
