На рынке черешня была дороже, чем я ожидал, но дочка всё равно попросила немного черешни.

Yes, in English we would usually say cherries in the plural, but Russian often uses fruit and berry names as singular mass nouns when talking about them as produce or a commodity.

So:

• черешня была дороже = the cherries were more expensive
• literally, it is closer to sweet cherry was more expensive, but that is just how Russian commonly expresses it

Because черешня is singular feminine, the verb is also singular feminine:

• черешня была
• not черешни были

This is very natural in Russian when talking about food being sold at a market.

Because немного normally requires the genitive case.

So:

• черешня = nominative singular
• черешни = genitive singular

In попросила немного черешни, the meaning is asked for a little/some cherries.

This is a very common pattern:

• немного воды = a little water
• немного хлеба = a little bread
• немного черешни = a little/some sweet cherries

So the case changes because of немного.

На рынке is the prepositional case after на to show location.

• на рынке = at the market / in the market

This answers the question where?

Compare:

• на рынок = to the market → direction, accusative
• на рынке = at the market → location, prepositional

So in this sentence, the speaker is describing where the price was observed: at the market.

Russian usually prefers the short comparative form for ordinary comparisons.

So:

• дорогой = expensive
• дороже = more expensive

That makes черешня была дороже the most natural way to say the cherries were more expensive.

You can sometimes use более дорогой / более дорогая, but it is usually more formal or heavier in style. In everyday speech, дороже is much more natural.

Yes. This is the normal way to make a comparison in Russian.

Structure:

• дороже, чем... = more expensive than...
• быстрее, чем... = faster than...
• лучше, чем... = better than...

So:

• черешня была дороже, чем я ожидал = the cherries were more expensive than I expected

Russian uses чем after the comparative, just like English uses than.

Because чем я ожидал contains a verb, ожидал, so it functions as a subordinate clause.

• дороже, чем я ожидал

In Russian punctuation, this kind of clause is normally separated by a comma.

If чем introduces a full comparison with its own verb, the comma is expected.

Because Russian past tense agrees with the gender of the subject.

Here the subject is я = I, but in the past tense Russian still shows whether the speaker is male or female:

• я ожидал = I expected, said by a man
• я ожидала = I expected, said by a woman

So this sentence suggests that the speaker is male. If a female speaker said it, she would say:

• чем я ожидала

Because the subject is дочка, which is feminine singular.

Russian past tense agrees with the subject:

• дочка попросила = daughter asked
• сын попросил = son asked
• дети попросили = children asked

So попросила is the correct feminine singular past form.

Here всё равно means something like:

• still
• anyway
• all the same
• despite that

So the idea is:

• the cherries were more expensive than expected
• but the daughter asked for some anyway

In this sentence, всё равно shows that the higher price did not change what happened.

Дочка is a very common everyday word for daughter. It often sounds warmer, more personal, or more natural in conversation than дочь.

Compare:

• дочь = daughter, more neutral or formal
• дочка = daughter, more affectionate or colloquial

A parent speaking casually would very naturally say дочка.

Because the speaker is talking about an indefinite amount, not a specific count.

• немного черешни = some cherries / a little sweet cherry
• несколько черешен = several cherries

Both are possible in the right context, but they are not the same.

Немного черешни is more natural when talking about buying fruit as food, especially at a market. It treats it more like a quantity of produce.

Несколько черешен focuses on individual cherries, as separate items.

So in this sentence, немного черешни sounds more natural.

The repetition is completely natural here.

Russian often repeats a noun if it keeps the sentence clear and straightforward:

• На рынке черешня была дороже...
• ...попросила немного черешни

Using a pronoun instead could sound less clear, because the noun is central to the sentence. Repeating it is normal and not awkward.

This is a vocabulary question many learners have.

• черешня = sweet cherry
• вишня = sour cherry / tart cherry

In English, both are often just called cherries, but Russian distinguishes them clearly.

So this sentence is specifically about sweet cherries, the kind commonly eaten fresh.