Russian verb to have

Russian ns, prons, adjs & nums decline in gender: m, f, n; number: s, p & case: n, g, d, a, i, p. Adv, conj, interj, prep stay the same. Verbs: 3 ten, 2 asp; asp pairs are formed: via pref, suf & lex. Beware of verbs of position and motion!

► Russian verbs

Past of Russian verb to have[edit]

If you've learned the, recall that to say 'I have...' is У + gen + есть + nom, and to say 'I haven't...' is У + gen + нет + gen:

I have cats - У меня́ есть коты́

I don't have cats - У меня́ нет кото́в

To form the past tense, 'I had...', replace есть with был/была́/бы́ло/бы́ли as appropriate. Notice that the gender and number of the verb depends on the possessed item, not the possessor, since that is the subject of the verb:

I had a bottle of vodka - У меня́ была́ буты́лка во́дки - меня follows у so is genitive; буты́лка is the subject so is nominative; во́дки is genitive as it's in the bottle ('bottle of vodka').

He had dollars - У него́ бы́ли до́ллары - note the use of него after a preposition.

To negate these and say 'I hadn't...', use the same construction as 'There weren't...': У + gen + не́ было + gen:

He had no dollars - У него́ не́ было до́лларов

We had no dollars - У нас не́ было до́лларов