“Был”, “была”, “было”, “были”?

What is the right way to say?
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- У ТАНИ … ДЕНЬГИ?
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– У ТАНИ НЕ … ДЕНЕГ.

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

Not sure?

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- У Тани были деньги?

- У Тани не было денег.

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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 or personal pronoun in Nominative case (form №1) regardless its meaning.

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Thus, in the first sentence the noun in case №1 (Nominative) is “деньги”, они (plural). Therefore we use the verb in plural: “были”, even though the Subject is feminine (Таня).

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NO NOUN №1 => VERB TAKES “ОНО”-FORM

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In the second sentence a noun in №1 (Nominative case) is absent. The both nouns “Таня” and “деньги” are in form №2 (Genitive: у Тани, денег). When we need to decide about the form of a verb, we can’t check a noun in any form but Nominative case (form №1). When we have nothing to check with, by default we use a verb in оно-form: “было”.

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“Был”, “была”, “было”, “были”?

What is the right way to say?
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- У ВАС ВЧЕРА … ВСТРЕЧА?
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– У НАС ВЧЕРА НЕ … ВСТРЕЧИ.

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

Not sure?

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- У вас вчера была встреча?

- У нас вчера не было встречи.

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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 or personal pronoun in Nominative case (form №1) regardless its meaning.

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Thus, in the first sentence the noun in case №1 (Nominative) is “встреча”, она (feminine). Therefore we use the verb in feminine: “была”, even though the Subject is plural (вы).

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NO NOUN №1 => VERB TAKES “ОНО”-FORM

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In the second sentence a noun/ personal pronoun in №1 (Nominative case) is absent. The noun “вечеринка” takes form №2 (Genitive: вечеринки), the pronoun “мы” is Genitive too (у нас). When we need to decide about the form of a verb, we can’t check a noun or personal pronoun in any form but Nominative case (form №1). When we have nothing to check with, by default we use a verb in оно-form: “было”.

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