grammar question. Talking about age , in past tense, use of было\был

[Only4Russian]

I am confused about something.It may seem like it's insignificant, but the fact that I can't understand the "rule" or reasoning about it worries me.I really want to understand it.

Here are a few simple sentences:

 

Тане был 1 год,когда Анна начала работать в школе.
 Тане было 17 лет, когда она закончила школу.
 Тане будет 24 года, когда она закончит МУМ.
 Кевину было 5 лет, когда его родители взяли собаку.
 Анне было 24 года, когда она начала работать в школе.

---

okay...I know about dative case. 

I already know about the genitive case ,

and

год with 1

года with 2,3,4

лет with 5 -0 etc!

This is about БЫЛ. I  thought that it was about matching был with год\года\лет  but -года- does not fit

so...

Correct me please:

год-- use  был

года--  use  было(!!!)

лет--  use   было

 how does it get worked out like this?

 год is masculine, so был is ok.

года is from the same word so is masculine but is just in genitive case so it is still masculine. But it's было(neuter!)....why?

лет is really from лето so it's really neuter and the   было makes sense.

What's going on and why is it like this? What's the  rule? Or is this just another of the many crazy Russian grammar things that just exist for no apparent reason?

[Harry Gillung]

Ok, this is an excellent question.  You almost have the rules correct but you forgot one thing.. 

 

You have correctly stated after numbers ending in один you use год 'year'.  

 

After два/три/четыре use the genitive singular года, this means all numbers that have два/три/четыре such as 22, 33 or 43 will follow this rule.   

 

After numerals which take the Genative plural (all others) use лет which is the Genative plural of летo (summer) in place of the Genitive plural of год.  I think you have outlined this below correctly.

 

будет is used to put these expressions into the future tense and было to put them into the past, unless they end in один год in which case был is used.

 

Hope this makes sense.

 

Harry 

---

From: Only4Russian <only4r...@gmail.com>
To: huli...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sat, May 29, 2010 12:50:28 AM
Subject: grammar question. Talking about age , in past tense, use of было\был

I am confused about something.It may seem like it's insignificant, but the fact that I can't understand the "rule" or reasoning about it worries me.I really want to understand it.

Here are a few simple sentences:

 

Тане был 1 было,когда Анна начала работать в школе.

 Тане было 17 лет, когда она закончила школу.
 Тане будет 24 года, когда она закончит МУМ.
 Кевину было 5 лет, когда его родители взяли собаку.
 Анне было 24 года, когда она начала работать в школе.

---

okay...I know about dative case. 

I already know about the genitive case ,

and

год with 1

года with 2,3,4

лет with 5 -0 etc!

This is about БЫЛ. I  thought that it was about matching был with год\года\лет  but -года- does not fit

so...

Correct me please:

год-- use  был

года--  use  было(!!!)

лет--  use   было

 how does it get worked out like this?

 год is masculine, so был is ok.

года is from the same word so is masculine but is just in genitive case so it is still masculine. But it's было(neuter!)....why?

лет is really from лето so it's really neuter and the   было makes sense.

What's going on and why is it like this? What's the  rule? Or is this just another of the many crazy Russian grammar things that just exist for no apparent reason?

--
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[Harry]

Ok, this is an excellent question. You almost have the rules correct
but you forgot one thing..

You have correctly stated after numbers ending in один you use год
'year'.

After два/три/четыре use the genitive singular года, this means all
numbers that have два/три/четыре such as 22, 33 or 43 will follow this
rule.

After numerals which take the Genative plural (all others) use лет
which is the Genative plural of летo (summer) in place of the Genitive
plural of год. I think you have outlined this below correctly.

будет is used to put these expressions into the future tense and было
to put them into the past, unless they end in один год in which case
был is used.


Hope this makes sense.



Harry

[Michele Balistreri]

With the genitive case you always use the neutral form of the verb

У меня была собака

У меня собаки не было

У меня было 4 собаки

29.05.2010, в 6:50, Only4Russian написал(а):