The Russian verb "to be" (быть).

The zero copula: present tense without a verb

English forces a verb in every sentence. Russian doesn't. In the present tense, the verb "to be" is simply omitted between the subject and what it equals.

• Я студент. - I am a student.
• Она врач. - She is a doctor.
• Москва - столица. - Moscow is the capital.
• Они дома. - They are at home.
• Сегодня холодно. - It is cold today.

Where English would say "is," "am," or "are," Russian uses a dash in writing (when both sides are nouns) or simply nothing. The reader fills in the linking idea.

Two situations bring the verb back even in the present:

• Existence: Здесь есть кафе? - Is there a cafe here?
• Possession: У меня есть собака. - I have a dog (lit. "by me there is a dog").

The form есть is a frozen present-tense remnant of быть, the same for all persons and numbers.

Past tense: был, была, было, были

The past tense of быть has four forms depending on the gender and number of the subject. This is the standard Russian past-tense pattern: forget person, think gender.

For "I was," the form depends on the speaker's gender: a man says я был, a woman says я была. Same for ты.

Future tense: буду, будешь, будет

Unlike the past, the future of быть conjugates by person, like a normal verb. These forms also serve as the auxiliary for the compound future tense of all imperfective verbs (буду читать = I will read).

У меня есть: how Russian says "I have"

Russian doesn't conjugate a verb "to have" for everyday possession. Instead, it uses an "at someone there is X" construction. The pattern:

У + person (genitive) + есть + thing (nominative)

• У меня есть машина. - I have a car. (lit. "By me there is a car.")
• У тебя есть время? - Do you have time?
• У него есть брат. - He has a brother.
• У нас есть план. - We have a plan.

The person who "has" something is in the genitive case (меня, тебя, него, нас). The thing possessed stays in the nominative. The verb is just the frozen form есть.

To say "I don't have X," replace есть with нет and move the thing to the genitive:

• У меня нет машины. - I don't have a car.
• У него нет времени. - He has no time.

This нет construction always takes the genitive. It's one of the most reliable triggers for the genitive case in conversational Russian.

Есть and нет: existence and absence

Outside of possession, есть means "there is / there are," and нет means "there is no / there are no." The "no" version takes the genitive case for whatever is absent.

• В городе есть метро. - There is a metro in the city.
• В городе нет метро. - There is no metro in the city. (метро is indeclinable but still grammatically genitive here.)
• Вода есть. - There's water (it's available).
• Воды нет. - There's no water. (воды = genitive of вода)

Russians often skip есть when the existence is obvious or already established. The bare presence of the subject and adverbial information is enough.

Common pitfalls

Adding "is" where Russian doesn't want it

Beginners often try to insert есть in every sentence to mimic English "is." Don't. "Я есть студент" sounds bookish and outdated (it would have been normal in 19th-century Russian, not now). Modern Russian just says "Я студент."

Confusing есть (verb) with есть (food)

The form есть doubles as the infinitive of a completely different verb: "to eat." Context disambiguates. Я хочу есть = "I want to eat." У меня есть еда = "I have food."

Forgetting that "не было" stays neuter singular

The negative past with не было takes the genitive and stays in neuter singular regardless of the subject's gender:

• У меня не было времени. - I didn't have time. (времени = genitive of время)
• Её не было дома. - She wasn't home. (её = genitive of она)

You'd expect не была for a feminine subject, but the rule is: in this construction, the verb defaults to neuter singular не было. Same for plurals: Их не было (they weren't there), not не были.

Future with буду + perfective infinitive (don't do it)

The compound future works only with imperfective infinitives: я буду читать (I will read). With perfective verbs, the future is the conjugated perfective form itself: я прочитаю (I will read [through] / finish reading). Writing буду прочитать is wrong - the perfective already has a future meaning built in.

Frequently asked questions

Does Russian have a verb 'to be'?

Yes, but it's invisible in the present tense. The verb быть exists with full past (был, была, было, были) and future (буду, будешь, будет, будем, будете, будут) forms, but Russians drop it entirely in the present. 'Я студент' means 'I am a student' with no verb. The frozen form есть returns in two specific contexts: existence ('здесь есть кафе?' - is there a cafe here?) and possession ('у меня есть собака' - I have a dog).

How do you say 'I have' in Russian?

Russian doesn't conjugate a verb 'to have' the way English does. The standard construction is 'у + me/you/him etc. (in the genitive) + есть + the thing (in the nominative).' So 'I have a car' becomes 'У меня есть машина,' literally 'by me there is a car.' The negative version replaces есть with нет and moves the thing to the genitive: 'У меня нет машины' (I don't have a car).

Why does Russian use 'был' or 'была' instead of 'I was'?

Russian past-tense verbs forget person and think gender. The form depends on the gender and number of the subject, not on who's speaking. A man says 'я был' (I was, masculine); a woman says 'я была' (I was, feminine). For a neuter or impersonal subject: 'было' ('it was'). For plurals of any gender: 'были' ('they were'). This is the same pattern every Russian verb follows in the past tense.

What is 'буду' and when do I use it?

Буду is the first-person singular future of быть, meaning 'I will be.' It also serves as the auxiliary for the compound future tense of every imperfective verb: 'я буду читать' (I will read / I'll be reading). The pattern is буду/будешь/будет/будем/будете/будут + an imperfective infinitive. Perfective verbs don't use this construction - their conjugated forms already have a future meaning ('я прочитаю' = I will finish reading).

What's the difference between есть and нет?

Есть marks existence or possession; нет marks absence. 'У меня есть время' (I have time) becomes 'У меня нет времени' (I don't have time) in the negative. The thing that's absent moves to the genitive case: время → времени. Outside possession, the same pair works for general existence: 'Здесь есть аптека?' (Is there a pharmacy here?) / 'Аптеки здесь нет' (There's no pharmacy here).

Why does 'не было' stay neuter when the subject is feminine?

In negative existence and negative possession, Russian uses не было (neuter singular) regardless of the absent subject's gender or number, and the absent subject goes into the genitive: 'Её не было дома' (She wasn't home), 'Их не было там' (They weren't there). This is a special impersonal construction, not regular past-tense agreement. It's one of the consistent patterns that signals you're dealing with absence rather than ordinary 'someone wasn't doing X.'

Is 'есть' the same word as 'to eat'?

Same spelling, different verb. Есть as a form of быть means 'there is' / 'there are.' Есть as a separate verb means 'to eat' (infinitive). Context handles the disambiguation easily: 'У меня есть еда' (I have food) versus 'Я хочу есть' (I want to eat). You'll never see them confused in practice once you've heard them used.