Genitive after нет, не было, не будет

To say that something or someone is absent, Russian uses нет (present), не было (past) or не будет (future) with the genitive case. The missing thing is not the subject, so the verb never agrees with it: it is always не было and не будет, even with feminine or plural nouns.

• Был дождь → Не было дождя (There was no rain.)
• Будет урок → Не будет урока (There will be no lesson.)
• Есть молоко → Нет молока (There is no milk.)
• Были зрители → Не было зрителей (There were no spectators.)

The same pattern works for people who are not there: Папы нет дома (Dad isn't at home), На встрече не было директора (The director wasn't at the meeting).

A common mistake is не был дождь: say не было дождя.