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A1How to sayu vas yest…

How to say “Do you have…?” in Russian

Russian has no verb “to have”. It says “by you there is…” — and once you see that, the whole pattern falls into place.

Quick answer

У вас есть…?

u vas yest… — у + genitive, есть, then the thing in the nominative

The options

У вас есть…?Do you have…? — polite
У тебя́ есть…?Do you have…? — informal
У вас есть ко́фе?Do you have coffee?
У вас есть друго́й разме́р?Do you have another size?
У вас есть свобо́дные места́?Do you have any free seats?

The pattern

У + genitive + есть + nominative. The owner goes in the genitive (у меня́, у тебя́, у него́, у неё, у нас, у вас, у них) and the thing owned stays in the nominative, because grammatically it is the subject.

The negative

To say there is none, drop есть, add нет and put the thing in the genitive: У нас нет ко́фе. This is one of the sharpest case switches in Russian, and shop assistants use it constantly.

What you hear back

Да, есть.Yes, we have.
Нет, к сожале́нию, нет.No, unfortunately not.
Есть, но друго́го цве́та.We have one, but in a different colour.
Посмотрю́, одну́ мину́ту.I’ll check, one moment.

Typical mistakes

Вы име́ете ко́фе?

У вас есть ко́фе?

име́ть exists but sounds bureaucratic with everyday objects.

У нас нет ко́фе есть.

У нас нет ко́фе.

нет replaces есть — never both.

Check yourself

How do you say “we don’t have coffee”?

Нет plus the genitive.

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