# У меня есть



## Sup s kotom

I know that in Russian, expressing possession of something can differ slightly depending on the permanence of the object, e.g.,

У меня есть собака

vs.

У меня зеленые глаза

Is it possible, then, to shorten "У ---- есть" in colloquial speech, such as "У меня собака" or "Меня собака"?


----------



## morzh

Not usually, no.

"У меня собака" - may be used only as a reply to a question, like "what kind of pet do you have?", or as an opposition . But not as a statement - it has to be "У меня есть собака".

"Меня собака" - is wrong altogether, unless used as a part of a sentence like "Меня собака укусила" (A dog bit me), with "собака" being stressed (normal order would be "меня укусила собака").

PS. You won't believe but only yesterday I was pondering that same question, and formalized it more or less as this:

If it is your descriptive quality,  or a condition you are having - you not only may drop it - you have to drop it (I mean - "есть").
У меня зеленые глаза
У меня ангина / У меня диабет
У меня короткие руки.

However if it is something you have, then

У меня есть руки,
У меня есть глаза.
У меня есть хвост.
У меня есть собака.
У меня есть машина.

When answering a question "есть" may be present or may be dropped.

How are you going to get home ? - У меня машина.
What kind of pet do you have? - У меня рыбки.

The short answers also may be used for other types of questions (what are you eating, and such).


----------



## Maroseika

Меня собака is impossible in any case.
У меня собака is possible: У него кошка, а у меня собака. 
But this has nothing to do with the style of speech - just different semantics.


----------



## RhoKappa

I understood from my textbook that есть is used when possession or existence is emphasized.  Am I correct here?


----------



## rusita preciosa

Maroseika said:


> Меня собака is impossible in any case.


I guess thepretically, it is possible, but in very specific situations. Two people sit in a waiting area of an emergency room, both have a bite on their arm:
- Тебя кто укусил? Меня - собака.
- А меня - кошка. 

(note: unlike in English, you would use *кто* rather than *что* when talking about animals)


----------



## galaxy man

_Дело было вечером,
Делать было нечего.
Галка села на заборе
Кот забрался на чердак.
Тут сказал ребятам Боря 
Просто так:
- А у меня в кармане гвоздь!_


----------



## Maroseika

rusita preciosa said:


> I guess theoretically, it is possible, but in very specific situations.


Aren't we discussing 'possession' constructions?


----------



## morzh

galaxy man said:


> _Дело было вечером,
> Делать было нечего.
> Галка села на заборе
> Кот забрался на чердак.
> Тут сказал ребятам Боря
> Просто так:
> - А у меня в кармане гвоздь!_



The constructs with "A..." are a separate case. I call them "bragging" constructs. Here "A" means "Look what I have!" and "есть " then is not necessary.


----------



## TheGist

morzh said:


> The constructs with "A..." are a separate case. I call them "bragging" constructs. Here "A" means "Look what I have!" and "есть " then is not necessary.



Please don't make the Russian language sound harder than it really is. 

"A" does NOT mean "Look what I have!" You could easily drop the "A" and the sentence would still make sense and have the same meaning "У меня в кармане гвоздь" (=I have a nail in my pocket.). 

Now let me share my ideas on the subject discussed:

The above sentence is a different case because there's an indication of place (в кармане = in [my] pocket) and the Russian language often allows to omit verbs in such situations. The verb "есть" is only implied but the actual verb can really be a lot of different words if you decide to use one: "У меня в кармане (есть/лежит/находится/завалялся и т.п.) гвоздь". 

So you can say "У меня собака" if you add where the dog is. For example, "У меня собака во дворе" (a non-emphatic usual word order is "У меня во дворе собака"). Again, the verb is omitted in this sentence and can be various. Generally, it is implied that _there is_ a dog (in my garden so be careful), but since we don't know for sure what the implied verb really is, the sentence can mean slightly different things when said in different situations.

Generally "есть" means that something/someone exists or can be found (in a certain place), or that someone/something is in your possession or at your disposal (it can be both real objects and abstract concepts): 
У меня есть брат/сестра/кошка/деньги/время/идеи/сомнения.
В городе есть музеи. В доме кто-то есть.

But "у меня/тебя/нас" etc is a very idiomatic expression by itself and the preposition "у" has a lot of different meanings. For example, it is often used to refer to your body or body parts. Where in English you say "My leg hurts", in Russian you normally say "У меня болит нога". Or "у меня" can mean "at my place/in my house" (you refer to your surroundings): Он забыл у меня свой зонт (=He forgot his umbrella at my place). So you have to understand what "у меня" means in different context, because it does not necessarily suggest "_having_" something.

When talking about things, "есть" is normally conveys the idea of possession.

So saying "У меня есть зеленые глаза" would imply that you own a pair of green eyes that you probably keep somewhere in a jar, for example.

You say "У меня есть руки" only in context where the idea of contrasting the situation of having no arms is important.


----------



## morzh

Yes I agree - I actually wanted to add back then that "в кармане" (indication of the physical location of the possessed object) makes it acceptable even without "A".

However I still think that "A" also makes it acceptable without "в кармане".

The first one is "I'm bored, I have nothing to talk about, so let's talk about a nail in my pocket".
The second one is "Well, look what I have! I have a nail in my pocket - what do you have to match that?"

But putting it like "У меня гвоздь", without either one of the two ("A" or "в кармане"), makes it sound strange and almost brings one to ask the question "Where?" (which you know the answer to, when someone cannot sit quietly, moving his legs and saying "I have  a nail....")


----------



## Rosett

Сказать можно так: 'У меня простуда'.


----------



## morzh

rosett said:


> Сказать можно так: 'У меня простуда'.



Мы про это уже говорили в самом начале этой темы.
(Не про простуду, а про категории, которые позволяют или не позволяют пропуск "есть").


----------



## Rosett

Если я прихожу к ветеринару,то могу сказать:'Здравствуйте, у меня собака'? Это же нормально.


----------



## dePrades

I've been taught taught that to express posession you use "есть" if the subject is a bare noun (without adjectives) and that you don't use "есть" with subjects that are adj+noun or abstract nouns... I don't know if it helps, but it (more or less or less than more) seems to work!


----------



## Doktor Zlo

RhoKappa said:


> I understood from my textbook that есть is used when possession or existence is emphasized.  Am I correct here?



Yes. You are correct.


----------



## morzh

dePrades said:


> I've been taught taught that to express posession you use "есть" if the subject is a bare noun (without adjectives) and that you don't use "есть" with subjects that are adj+noun or abstract nouns... I don't know if it helps, but it (more or less or less than more) seems to work!



None of it is absolute, and depends on what you talk about, and how you want it presented. The first part though is often true; a bare noun is rarely used without "есть".
However the second is optional - using "есть" in this case is OK, and also stresses the fact of possession.

Also "есть" could be used earlier, in another sentence. Without it the stress is not on possession but on the object of possession itself.

Examples:
(stresses)

У него породистая лошадь - his horse is a purebred.
У него есть породистая лошадь - he has a purebred horse.

(Earlier presence of "I have")

У меня все есть. У меня большой дом, красивая жена, хорошие друзья.


----------

