In order to say that someone does or does not have something, we use the structures with the Genitive case (review Unit 9):  

1. У Ивана есть жена.
Ivan has a wife.

2. У Ивана нет жены.
Ivan doesn’t have a wife.

3. У детей есть карандаши.
The children have pencils.

4. У детей нет карандашей и ручек.
The children don’t have pencils or pens.

We learnt the Genitive case for singular nouns in Unit 9. Now, let's look at the basic rules for forming the Genitive case of plural nouns.

1. Masculine nouns usually add ‘-ов’ or ‘-ей’ endings

• Most of the masculine nouns in the genitive plural take the ‘-ов’ ending.
• If the noun ends in ‘ч’, ‘ж’, ‘ш’, ‘щ’ or ‘ь’, the ending is ‘-ей’. 

2. Feminine nouns usually drop the ending. 

• Most of the feminine nouns in the genitive plural drop the ending.
• If the noun’s stem ends in two consonants, you need to insert the vowels о or е between them. You insert е after ч, ж, ш, and o - in other cases.

NOTE!

Remember these nouns with an irregular Genitive plural forms:

• дети - детей 
• люди - людей 
• друзья - друзей 
• деньги - денег

In expressions like “a lot of smth”, we also use the Genitive plural:

• много друзей - a lot of friends
• мало ресторанов - few restaurants
• сколько студентов - how many students

Listen to the audio & read the examples:

1. У него много друзей.
He has many friends.

2. Это маленький город. Здесь мало ресторанов.
It’s a small town. There are few restaurants.

3. Сколько студентов учится здесь?
How many students study here?

Listen to the audio to hear the correct answers

Listen to the audio to hear the correct answers