На катке моя сестра надела новые коньки, а я взял старые.

На катке means at the skating rink / at the ice rink.

Here на is used with the prepositional case to show location, because the action is happening at a place, not moving onto it.

• каток = skating rink
• prepositional singular: на катке

Compare:

• на катке = at the rink
• на каток = to the rink

So in this sentence, на катке answers where?

Because the subject is моя сестра, which is feminine.

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number:

• masculine: надел
• feminine: надела
• neuter: надело
• plural: надели

So:

• моя сестра надела = my sister put on

They are two different verbs with two different meanings:

• надела = put on (wore something)
• взял = took

So the sentence is contrasting two actions:

• My sister put on new skates
• and I took the old ones

A learner may wonder why the second verb is not also надел. The idea is that Russian often says took the old ones where English might say I put on the old ones depending on context. Взял can suggest choosing, taking, or picking them.

Yes. In the past tense, взял is masculine singular, so it implies the speaker is male.

Compare:

• я взял = I took (male speaker)
• я взяла = I took (female speaker)

So this sentence tells us:

• the sister is female, from надела
• the speaker is male, from взял

Because коньки is normally used in the plural when talking about skates as footwear.

So:

• конёк can mean a single skate in some contexts
• but коньки is the usual word for skates

That is why the adjective is also plural:

• новые коньки = new skates

It is accusative plural.

The verb надеть takes a direct object: you put on something. So коньки is the object.

For inanimate plural nouns, the accusative looks like the nominative:

• nominative: новые коньки
• accusative: новые коньки

So even though it is the object, the form stays the same.

This is very common in Russian. The noun is omitted because it is already understood from the earlier part of the sentence.

So:

• новые коньки
• старые = old ones, meaning old skates

This is like English the old ones, where ones stands in for the noun. Russian often just leaves the noun out entirely when the adjective makes the meaning clear.

It is also accusative plural, because it is the direct object of взял.

The full version would be:

• я взял старые коньки

But коньки is omitted.

Since коньки is inanimate plural, the accusative form matches the nominative form, so старые looks the same.

А often links two clauses with a sense of contrast or comparison.

Here the idea is:

• my sister put on new skates
• whereas I took the old ones

So а works well because the two parts are being compared.

Very roughly:

• и = and
• а = and / while / whereas / but

In this sentence, а sounds more natural because it highlights the difference between her and me, and between new and old.

Russian word order is flexible. Putting На катке first sets the scene:

• At the rink, my sister...

This is natural if the speaker wants to establish the location before giving the main information.

Other orders are possible too, for example:

• Моя сестра на катке надела новые коньки...

But На катке first sounds very natural as a context-setting phrase.

No, and this is a very common learner question.

• надеть = to put on something on yourself or someone
• одеть = to dress someone

So:

• надеть коньки = to put on skates
• одеть ребёнка = to dress a child

In this sentence, надела новые коньки is correct because the object is the item being put on.

Надела is the past tense of the perfective verb надеть.

Perfective is used because the sentence describes a completed action:

• she put on the skates
• I took the old ones

This is a sequence of finished events, so perfective verbs are natural here.

The imperfective partner is надевать:

• Она надевала коньки = she was putting on skates / used to put on skates

But here the completed action is what matters, so надела is the right choice.

Yes, depending on context, взял can mean not only physically took, but also picked, selected, or went with.

So in this sentence, possible natural interpretations include:

• I took the old skates
• I picked the old ones
• I went with the old ones

The exact nuance depends on the wider situation, but grammatically it is simply the past tense of взять.