у него есть
u nego yest'
In Russian, the phrase for "he has" is у него есть (u nego yest').
The phrase у него есть is used to indicate that a male person owns or possesses something.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally translates to "at him there is".
How does it change in a sentence?
To express different tenses or states, you can modify the phrase. To say "he does not have", replace есть with нет to get у него нет. To say "he will have", replace есть with the future tense будет to get у него будет.
How do you pronounce it?
u nego yest'
What mistakes should you avoid?
Avoid using он имеет to express possession. Although it may seem like a direct translation of "he has", у него есть is the standard and correct way to express that someone owns something.
Did you know?
- Using the verb иметь (to have) instead of у него есть can accidentally change the meaning to 'to have a sexual relationship' or 'to experience' in certain contexts.
- The word есть used in this phrase is a homonym of the word for 'to eat'. While they look identical in writing, they are actually different words that just happen to share the same form in certain grammatical contexts.
- The word есть used to signify existence comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁ésti, making it a very distant relative of the English word 'is'.
Examples in context
- У него есть пёс.He has a dog.Tatoeba #1801139 by soweli_Elepanto, translation #288121 by CK
- У него есть сын.He has a son.Tatoeba #5305581 by Wezel, translation #2870268 by Amastan
- У него есть уши.He has ears.Tatoeba #5685364 by marafon, translation #5685124 by ddnktr
- У него есть дом.He has a house.
- У него имеется автомобиль.He has a car.
- У него находится квартира в центре города.He has an apartment in the city center.
- У него есть кот.He has a cat.
- У него имеется новый компьютер.He has a new computer.
- Он обладает хорошим чувством юмора.He has a good sense of humor.
- 226 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Dmitry and Maria are talking about a mutual friend.
- Дмитрий DmitryУ него есть машина?U nego yest' mashina?Does he have a car?
- Мария MariaДа, у него есть новая машина.Da, u nego yest' novaya mashina.Yes, he has a new car.
- Дмитрий DmitryОн может нас подвезти?On mozhet nas podvezti?Can he give us a ride?
- Мария MariaЯ сейчас ему позвоню.Ya seychas emu pozvonyu.I will call him now.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries есть, у, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
