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

There once was a man from Nantucket…. Russian is WEIRD. Theres no present tense form of the verb to be: Маша на занятии. (Marys in class) Здесь магазин. (A store is here.) Пелевинписатель. (Pelevin is a writer.)

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:

Примеры...

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 its a peculiar verb, as it doesnt conjugate. E.g., У меня есть машины.

And dont 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!

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.

Didnt have something… To express non-existence (lack of possession) in the past, you find yourself in a funny situation: Theres no nominative case, and therefore no subject! NEW RULE: Impersonal (subject-less) sentences are always NEUTER SINGULAR!

Therefore… Use the FIXED FORM не́ было in the past to indicate non-existence or that you didnt have something. У меня не́ было друга. Раньше у меня не́ было машины. Раньше здесь не́ было хорошего магазина, а теперь их много! Fixed form Gen. Case (nonexistence!)

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. Well do the negative (non- existence) exercises at the tables…this exercise