Я взяла маленькую заколку, а моя мама — серебряные серёжки и старый браслет.

Because the speaker is grammatically female.

In Russian past tense, the verb agrees with the subject in gender and number:

• я взял = I took (said by a male)
• я взяла = I took (said by a female)
• мы взяли = we took

So Я взяла... tells us that the person speaking is a woman or girl.

Because заколку is the direct object of взяла, so it goes into the accusative case.

Since заколка is a feminine singular noun, its accusative form is:

• заколка → заколку

The adjective must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case, so:

• маленькая заколка → маленькую заколку

So both words change because they form one noun phrase, and both must match the accusative feminine singular.

Because браслет is a masculine inanimate noun, and for masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative is the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative: старый браслет
• accusative: старый браслет

This is different from masculine animate nouns, where the accusative usually matches the genitive:

• я вижу старого друга = I see an old friend

But with an inanimate object like браслет, no change is needed.

It is also in the accusative, because it is another direct object of the implied verb взяла.

However, серёжки is plural and inanimate, and for inanimate plural nouns, the accusative is the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative: серебряные серёжки
• accusative: серебряные серёжки

The adjective серебряные agrees with the plural noun серёжки.

The dash shows that the verb взяла is being left out because it is understood from the first part of the sentence.

Full version:

• Я взяла маленькую заколку, а моя мама взяла серебряные серёжки и старый браслет.

Russian often omits repeated words, especially verbs, when the meaning is clear. The dash marks this omission.

So the sentence means:

• I took a small hair clip, and my mother took silver earrings and an old bracelet.

In this sentence, а connects two parts with a slight sense of contrast or comparison:

• I took X, while my mother took Y.

It is not a strong opposition like but, but it does set the two subjects side by side.

Compare:

• и = simple and
• а = and / while / whereas with contrast or change of topic

So here а is natural because the sentence compares what I took with what my mother took.

Yes, it could be just мама in many contexts.

Russian often omits possessives when the relationship is obvious. So both are possible:

• а мама — ...
• а моя мама — ...

Using моя can add a bit of clarity or emphasis, especially if the speaker wants to be explicit: my mother rather than someone else’s.

So моя мама is perfectly natural, but мама would also be possible depending on context.

Yes. In many Russian texts, ё is often written as е, so you may see:

• серёжки
• сережки

Both represent the same word, but the pronunciation is with yo, not plain e.

So the standard pronunciation is:

• серь-ОЖ-ки

Using ё is clearer for learners because it shows the stress and pronunciation more directly.

Often, yes. Just like in English, people commonly refer to earrings in the plural because there are usually two of them.

Russian also has a singular form:

• серёжка = one earring

But in many everyday situations, the plural серёжки is more natural if someone is talking about a pair.

It is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the second part of the sentence.

Even though the verb is omitted after the dash, the structure is still:

• моя мама [взяла] ...

So:

• моя = nominative feminine singular
• мама = nominative singular

Yes, absolutely.

You could say:

• Я взяла маленькую заколку, а моя мама взяла серебряные серёжки и старый браслет.

This is fully correct.

Using the dash is simply a more compact and stylistically smooth way to avoid repeating взяла.

Because серебряные серёжки and старый браслет are two items in a list, both connected to the same implied verb взяла.

So the second half means:

• my mother took silver earrings and an old bracelet

Here и is the normal word for and joining two objects.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, though each version may sound slightly different in emphasis.

For example:

• Я взяла маленькую заколку, а моя мама — серебряные серёжки и старый браслет.
• Маленькую заколку взяла я, а моя мама — серебряные серёжки и старый браслет.
• Я взяла заколку маленькую... — possible in some contexts, but less neutral here

The original order is the most neutral and natural for ordinary narration.

There are two kinds of agreement here:

1. Verb agreement

   • я взяла: the verb agrees with the speaker in feminine singular

2. Adjective-noun agreement

   • маленькую заколку: adjective + noun, feminine singular accusative
   • серебряные серёжки: adjective + noun, plural accusative
   • старый браслет: adjective + noun, masculine singular accusative

Russian adjectives always match their nouns in:

• gender
• number
• case

That is one of the main grammar patterns this sentence illustrates.