For Susan Welsh-different encoding

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Nola wrote:

> Dear Susan, I hope this is readable-I'm using Cyrillic ISO this time-
> 
> It is about  есть\нет, and быть in the past and future. У Саши бЫЛА
> машина. Sasha had a car.
> 
> У Саши не было машины. Sasha didn't have a car.
> 
> Ok-I understand the explanation in this case about было \была. In the
> first sentence, Sasha had a car and it's positive so Sasha is
> genitive because of the У but HAD is была, matching gender of машина.
> And in second sentence, Sasha is in genitive case again, car is now
> genitive because of negative existence,  but было is neuter, because
> when the existence of something in the past is negative, you use the
> neuter form of быть.
> 
> But see this-------
> 
> Ольга не была сегодня в магазине. Olga was not in the shop today
> 
> Тогда  её не было в Москве. At that time, she wasn't in Moscow.
> 
> OKAY! What gives here?Both times Olga simply wasn't at a place...but
> in one case  быть matches Olga's gender and in the next it's
> neuter...I cannot see what would be the reason for this.

The decision point is whether to use the nominative construction, "у нее 
была (не была) машина," or the negative genitive construction, "у нее не 
было машины." Once that decision is made, the agreement follows.

In the first case, the subject of была is машина, so naturally the verb 
agrees. This is usually used in positive statements, but it is sometimes 
possible to use it in a negative, as in "Ольга не была сегодня в 
магазине," where she was unexpectedly absent.

In the second, we have an impersonal construction (no subject) with a 
neuter verb, which might be said to "agree" with the lack of a subject. 
This choice is only made in negative constructions; we cannot say "У 
Саши было машины."

I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense. This wouldn't be the first time that 
language operated illogically, and it won't be the last. You can 
probably provide examples from English as well.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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