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Understanding Existence in Russian: "To Be" in Past and Present

Dive into the unique aspects of the Russian language, focusing on the verb "быть" (to be) and its forms. Explore the absence of a present tense and the peculiarities of expressing possession and existence. Learn how to articulate past existence using “было” as well as how to indicate non-existence with “нет.” This guide provides essential examples and exercises to reinforce your understanding, ensuring you grasp these foundational concepts in Russian grammar.

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Understanding Existence in Russian: "To Be" in Past and Present

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Having things in the past… есть/был и нет/не было

  2. There once was a man from Nantucket…. • Russian is WEIRD. There’s no present tense form of the verb “to be”: Маша на занятии. (Mary’s in class)Здесь магазин. (A store is here.) Пелевин—писатель. (Pelevin is a writer.)

  3. Past tense of “to be” • There is, however, both a future- and a past-tense form of the verb быть, to be. The past is very simple to derive, and means “was”:

  4. Примеры...

  5. POSSESSION! • Recall the weird way Russians “have” something: У меня есть машина. Lit. “Near me there is a car.” • The subject of the sentence is the thing, the car; есть is the verb, but it’s a peculiar verb, as it doesn’t conjugate. E.g., У меня есть машины.

  6. And don’t forget… • Есть is also used to express existence of a given thing. E.g., Здесь есть хороший ресторан. • And to deny the existence of something, use the word нет and the gen. case (the case of non-existence!) Здесь нет хорошего ресторана. Genitive!

  7. Had things… • When you want to express the existence (possession) of something in the past, use the correct form of быть in the past: У меня была машина. У меня был() галстук(). У меня было кресло. У меня были родители.

  8. Didn’t have something… • To express non-existence (lack of possession) in the past, you find yourself in a funny situation: There’s no nominative case, and therefore no subject! • NEW RULE: Impersonal (subject-less) sentences are always NEUTER SINGULAR!

  9. Therefore… • Use the FIXED FORM не́ было in the past to indicate non-existence or that you didn’t have something. У меня не́ было друга. Раньше у меня не́ было машины. Раньше здесь не́ было хорошего магазина, а теперь их много! Gen. Case (nonexistence!) Fixed form

  10. Давайте позанимаемся... • Do this exercise as a listening exercise. Try to answer the questions про себя (to yourself). Listen to the correct response, paying attention to the construction У меня есть and the past-tense forms of the verb быть. Do you have books? No, but I had books. We’ll do the negative (non-existence) exercises at the tables…

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