У меня на работе, ко мне на работу: At and To Someone’s Place

“At my work” and “to my work” confuse my students all the time. Most learners translate them word for word and get на мое́й рабо́те and на мою́ рабо́ту. Russians will understand you, but that's not how they say it.

A Russian speaker says у меня́ на рабо́те (at my work) and ко мне на рабо́ту (to my work). It's a very Russian construction. Each phrase has two halves, the first points to a person, the second to a place. The person half uses у or к, the place half uses в or на, and both halves always answer the same question: где? (where?) or куда́? (where to?).

Где? asks about location: where someone or something is, or where something happens. Куда́? asks about direction: where someone or something is going. That's why куда́? goes with verbs of motion like идти́ (to go on foot) and е́хать (to go by transport), and with verbs like класть/положи́ть (to put):

• Где ты? Я на рабо́те. — Where are you? I'm at work.
• Куда́ ты идёшь? На рабо́ту. — Where are you going? To work.

We'll start with у and к on their own, then put the two halves together, see how the same pattern works with everyday things like bags, phones and shirts, and finally look at why Russian speakers usually say у меня́ на рабо́те rather than на мое́й рабо́те.

The preposition у: at someone's place

У answers the question где? (where?): it shows location. With things, у means "by, next to": у окна́ (by the window), у две́ри (by the door). With people, the same "next to" becomes "at their place": in their home, their office, their space. No word for "house" or "place" is needed, because the person is the place.

After у, the person goes into the genitive case.

• Я сейча́с у ба́бушки. — I'm at my grandma's now.
• Он у врача́. — He's at the doctor's.
• Вчера́ мы бы́ли у друзе́й. — Yesterday we were at our friends' place.
• Встре́тимся у меня́? — Shall we meet at my place?

You probably know у from у меня́ есть (I have). It's the same preposition with the same meaning: у меня́ есть кот is literally "by me there is a cat". In Russian, having something means having it at your place. More on this in How to Say "I have" in Russian.

The preposition к: to someone's place

К answers the question куда́? (where to?): it shows direction, and here the destination is a person. After к, the person goes into the dative case.

• Приходи́ ко мне. — Come over to my place.
• Приходи́ ко мне в го́сти. — Come and visit me.
• Я е́ду к ма́ме. — I'm going to my mom's.
• За́втра я иду́ к врачу́. — Tomorrow I'm going to the doctor.
• Ве́чером мы идём к друзья́м. — We're going to our friends' place tonight.

К becomes ко before мне, before forms of весь (all) and мно́гие (many), and before a few other words. Without the о, these combinations would be hard to say:

• ко мне — to me, to my place
• ко всем — to everyone
• ко мно́гим — to many people

Here is the same person with у and with к:

• Я у врача́. — I'm at the doctor's. (где?)
• Я иду́ к врачу́. — I'm going to the doctor. (куда́?)

People you visit for a service work the same way: к парикма́херу (to the hairdresser), у стомато́лога (at the dentist's).

The opposite direction, back from a person, is от + genitive (отку́да? — where from?):

• Я то́лько что от врача́. — I've just come from the doctor's.

More on от and the other ways to say "from" in How to Say "From" in Russian.

Pronouns after у and к: у меня, ко мне

You'll use у and к with pronouns most often: у меня́, ко мне, у тебя́, к тебе́.

Notice the н in the third person: он, она́, оно́ and они́ take an н after any preposition, in every case: у него́ (at his place), к ней (to her), с ним (with him), о них (about them).

This н appears only when the pronoun is the person. When его́, её and их are possessive (his/its, her, their), they never take н:

• у него́ — at his place → у его́ дру́га — at his friend's place
• к ней — to her place → к её ма́ме — to her mom
• у них — at their place → у их сосе́дей — at their neighbors' place

Person + place: у меня на работе, ко мне на работу

Now let's put the two halves together. The person half says whose space it is, and the place half says where exactly in that space.

For the place half, the rule is the same as for any place in Russian. Location (где?) puts the place into the prepositional case, and direction (куда́?) puts it into the accusative case. In English, "at work" becomes "to work". In Russian, the preposition stays the same, в or на, and only the ending changes:

• на рабо́те — at work
• на рабо́ту — to work

Whether a place takes в or на is a separate topic, explained in В vs На.

The rule to keep: both halves answer the same question. If the person half has у, the place after в or на is in the prepositional. If it has к, it's in the accusative.

Где? At someone's place

• У меня́ на рабо́те но́вый нача́льник. — There's a new boss at my work.
• У нас в го́роде нет мо́ря. — There's no sea in our town.
• Мы бы́ли у друзе́й на да́че. — We were at our friends' dacha. (A да́ча is a summer house outside the city.)
• Мы бы́ли у друзе́й в гостя́х. — We were visiting friends.
• У них в шко́ле есть бассе́йн. — Their school has a swimming pool.
• У тебя́ в ко́мнате хо́лодно. — It's cold in your room.

Куда? To someone's place

• Приходи́ ко мне на рабо́ту. — Come to my work.
• Мы е́дем к друзья́м на да́чу. — We're going to our friends' dacha.
• Ле́том я е́ду к роди́телям в дере́вню. — In the summer I'm going to my parents' place in the village.
• Зайди́ ко мне в кабине́т. — Drop by my office.

Side by side:

• у меня́ на рабо́те — at my work → ко мне на рабо́ту — to my work
• у ма́мы на да́че — at my mom's dacha → к ма́ме на да́чу — to my mom's dacha
• у нас в о́фисе — at our office → к нам в о́фис — to our office
• у друзе́й в гостя́х — visiting friends → к друзья́м в го́сти — to visit friends

В го́сти and в гостя́х are a fixed pair built on го́сти (guests). Literally, you go “into guests” and then you are “in guests”. That's the Russian way to talk about visiting people. You add the person with к or у, just like with any other place:

• В суббо́ту мы идём в го́сти к сосе́дям. — On Saturday we're going to visit our neighbors.
• Вчера́ я был в гостя́х у сестры́. — Yesterday I was visiting my sister.

Which comes first: the person or the place?

Both orders are correct. Whatever comes last is what you want to emphasize:

• Я е́ду к ма́ме на да́чу. — I'm going to my mom's dacha. (The dacha is the new information.)
• Я е́ду на да́чу к ма́ме. — I'm going to the dacha, to my mom's. (Mom is the new information.)

With pronouns, the person usually comes first: у меня́ на рабо́те (at my work), ко мне на рабо́ту (to my work).

Place words without a preposition: дома, здесь, там

Some place words already answer где? or куда́? on their own, so they take no preposition. They come in pairs:

They combine with the person half in exactly the same way, and both halves still answer the same question:

• У меня́ до́ма ти́хо. — It's quiet at my place.
• Пойдём ко мне домо́й. — Let's go to my place.
• У нас тут дождь. — It's raining here where we are.
• Иди́ к нам сюда́! — Come over here and join us! (Literally: come here to us.)
• У них там уже́ зима́. — It's already winter where they are.
• Ле́том мы к ним туда́ пое́дем. — In the summer we'll go there to see them.

The same pattern with things: у меня в сумке, у тебя на рубашке

The person half also works with things people carry, wear or use, and with parts of the body. Where English says "my bag" or "your shirt", in Russian the person usually comes first, with у:

• У меня́ в су́мке ключи́. — The keys are in my bag.
• У тебя́ на руба́шке пятно́. — There's a stain on your shirt.
• У него́ в телефо́не ты́сяча фотогра́фий. — He has a thousand photos on his phone.
• У тебя́ на щеке́ ресни́ца. — There's an eyelash on your cheek.

Why у меня на работе and not на моей работе

In English, you say whose it is almost every time: my work, my bag, my hand. Russian speakers use мой (my) and твой (your) much less. There are three options, depending on how much "whose" matters.

When it's obvious whose, skip мой

• Я иду́ на рабо́ту. — I'm going to work.
• Я иду́ домо́й. — I'm going home.
• Положи́ ключи́ в су́мку. — Put the keys in your bag.
• Он подня́л ру́ку. — He raised his hand.

When it's someone's space, use у + person

This is the pattern this whole article is about. You're not talking about the work or the bag as a thing someone owns. You're talking about what is there or what happens there, in someone's space:

• У меня́ на рабо́те но́вый нача́льник. — There's a new boss at my work.
• У меня́ в су́мке всегда́ есть зонт. — I always have an umbrella in my bag.
• У меня́ боли́т голова́. — I have a headache. (Not моя́ голова́ боли́т.)

When "whose" is the point, use мой

Мой answers the question чей? (whose?). Use it when that's the real question, for example when you compare or choose between yours and mine:

• Ключи́ в мое́й су́мке, а не в твое́й. — The keys are in my bag, not yours.
• Встре́тимся в твоём о́фисе и́ли в моём? — Shall we meet at your office or mine?
• — В чьей су́мке ключи́? — В мое́й. — Whose bag are the keys in? — Mine.

Why к моей работе doesn't mean "to my work"

With people, к takes you to their place. With places and things, к only takes you up to them: you move toward them and stop next to them, but you don't go in.

• Подойди́ к мое́й маши́не. — Come up to my car. (You stop next to it.)
• Мы подъе́хали к до́му. — We drove up to the house. (We stopped outside.)

So к мое́й рабо́те would mean "up to the building where I work", not "to my job".

To say "come to my work", you need both halves: приходи́ ко мне на рабо́ту. Приходи́ на мою́ рабо́ту would be understood, but it sounds like a translation from English.

Four cases in two phrases

If this feels like a lot, that's because it is: у меня́ на рабо́те and ко мне на рабо́ту use four cases between them. The first takes the genitive and the prepositional, the second takes the dative and the accusative. I know this is a real challenge, and it's completely normal to mix them up at first.

That's why I've prepared exercises that take you through it step by step: first the person half on its own, then the place half, and finally whole phrases built from both. You'll find them in the Exercises tab at the top of the page.

Once the two halves click, you'll start hearing this pattern everywhere: у нас в стране́ (in our country), у тебя́ в телефо́не (on your phone), приходи́ ко мне в го́сти (come and visit me).