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How to say
"Bag" in Russian
Russian word of the day | Aug 30, 2019 (see all)
Declension of the word сумка
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative Nom. | су́мка | су́мки |
| Genitive Gen. | су́мки | су́мок |
| Dative Dat. | су́мке | су́мкам |
| Accusative Acc. | су́мку | су́мки |
| Instrumental Inst. | су́мкой | су́мками |
| Prepositional Prep. | су́мке | су́мках |
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Anita says:
Hello, what is the use of от in the first example? Wouldn’t Ключи́ маши́ны already mean car keys?
And I always have problems with constructions like у меня́ в су́мке. Can I say в мое́й су́мке? Thanks.
Learn Russian Words says:
Hi Anita,
You can’t say “ключи машины”, it does not make sense in Russian.
“От” in this case denotes belonging. You can literally translate this phrase as “keys from the car”.
There are many situation where you will need to use such construction:
– ключи от машины (car keys)
– ручка от чемодана (suitcase handle)
– пульт от телевизора / пульт от кондиционера (TV remote control / air conditioner remote control)
– зарядка от телефона (phone charging; although in this case, you can also say зарядка для телефона)
And so on.
“У меня в сумке” is not the same as “в моей сумке”. “У меня сумке” first focuses on the fact that I have it, and then that it’s in my bag. “В моей cумке” only focuses on the fact that it’s in my bag.
У меня / у тебя / у него / etc. is a way to say I have / you have / he has / etc. in Russian. This is the most common way to express the idea that someone has something.
You can check out a lesson about it here: I have in Russian.
Having said that, you can, of course, say “Ключи от машины в моей сумке”. But it’s way more natural to say “у меня в сумке”.
I hope it helps 🙂
Anita says:
Just to confirm, the У меня only refers to the bag, my bag, it doesn’t refer to the keys (it doesn’t say to whom the keys belong), correct?
Learn Russian Words says:
Yes, “у меня” does not say to whom the keys belong.
Actually, it does not directly say that the bag belongs to me either, it only says that I have this bag with me and the keys are there.
You can also simply say “ключи у меня” (I have the keys). Again, it does not say that these are my keys, only that I have them at this moment in time.