“Был”, “была”, “было”, “были”?

What is the right way to say?
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У АННЫ … НОВЫЙ ТЕЛЕФОН.

У МОИХ ЗНАКОМЫХ … ВЕЧЕРИНКА.

  1. БЫЛ
  2. БЫЛА
  3. БЫЛО
  4. БЫЛИ

Not sure?

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У Анны был новый телефон.

У моих знакомых была вечеринка.

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VERB  <= NOUN №1
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When we need to decide about the form of a verb, we have to check the noun in Nominative case (form №1) regardless its meaning.

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Thus, in the first sentence the noun №1 is “телефон”, он (masculine). Therefore we use the verb in masculine: “был”, even though the Subject is feminine (Анна).

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In the second sentence the noun №1 is “вечеринка”, она (feminine). Therefore we use the verb in feminine: “была”, even though the Subject is plural (знакомые).

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“Был”, “была”, “было”, “были”?

What is the right way to say?
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У СЕРГЕЯ … МАШИНА.

У МЕНЯ … ЭТИ ДОКУМЕНТЫ.

  1. БЫЛ
  2. БЫЛА
  3. БЫЛО
  4. БЫЛИ

Not sure?

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У Сергея была машина.

У меня были эти документы.

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VERB  <= NOUN №1
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When we need to decide about the form of a verb, we have to check the noun in Nominative case (form №1) regardless its meaning.

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Thus, in the first sentence the noun №1 is “машина”, она (feminine). Therefore we use the verb in feminine: “была”, even though the Subject is masculine (Сергей).

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In the second sentence the noun №1 is “документы”, они (plural). Therefore we use the verb in plural: “были”, even though the Subject is singular (я).

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