Мой брат любит пончики, а сестра всегда берёт пирожное к чаю.

Russian often leaves out a possessive like my when it is already obvious from context.

So:

• Мой брат = my brother
• а сестра here is understood as and my sister

Saying моя сестра would also be correct, but it is not necessary. Russian often avoids repeating words that are already clear.

Брат is a masculine singular noun, so the possessive my must agree with it:

• masculine singular: мой
• feminine singular: моя
• neuter singular: моё
• plural: мои

So:

• мой брат = my brother
• моя сестра = my sister

Both verbs are in the 3rd person singular present tense, because the subjects are singular:

• брат любит = brother loves
• сестра берёт = sister takes/has

Their dictionary forms are:

• любить = to love / like
• брать = to take

Conjugation:

• я люблю, ты любишь, он/она любит
• я беру, ты берёшь, он/она берёт

So любит and берёт mean he/she likes and he/she takes.

Пончики is the plural of пончик.

After любить, the thing liked normally goes into the accusative case. But for inanimate plural nouns, the accusative form is usually the same as the nominative form.

So:

• nominative plural: пончики
• accusative plural: пончики

That is why the sentence says любит пончики.

For the same basic reason: пирожное is inanimate, and in the singular its accusative is the same as its nominative.

So:

• nominative: пирожное
• accusative: пирожное

Since берёт takes a direct object, we expect the accusative, but the form happens to look the same.

The phrase к чаю is very common in Russian. It means something like:

• with tea
• for tea
• to have with tea

The preposition к normally requires the dative case, so:

• чай → чаю

So:

• пирожное к чаю = a pastry/dessert to go with tea

This is a set phrase in Russian and sounds very natural.

The noun чай forms the dative singular as чаю.

Pattern:

• nominative: чай
• dative: чаю

This is a regular enough pattern for many masculine nouns ending in a consonant or -й.

So after к, you get к чаю.

А often links two ideas while also showing some contrast or switch of topic.

Here the sentence is not just listing two facts; it is setting brother and sister side by side:

• My brother likes doughnuts, and my sister always has a pastry with tea.

Using и would sound more like simple addition: and.
Using а suggests: as for the sister / whereas the sister.

It is a very common conjunction in Russian.

Всегда means always, and Russian word order is fairly flexible. Putting всегда before the verb is a very normal placement:

• сестра всегда берёт...

This position emphasizes the habitual nature of the action: she always does this.

Other word orders are sometimes possible, but this one is the most neutral and natural here.

Literally, yes: берёт comes from брать, to take. But in context it often means something more natural in English, such as:

• has
• orders
• gets
• takes

So сестра всегда берёт пирожное к чаю means that she habitually chooses or has a pastry with tea.

Russian often uses брать where English would prefer a different everyday verb.

Yes. In Russian, любить is commonly used both for:

• loving people/things
• liking foods or activities

So любит пончики is a normal way to say:

• likes doughnuts
• literally, loves doughnuts

Russian uses любить more broadly than English love sometimes does.

In Russian, coordinating conjunctions such as а, но, and often и between clauses are commonly preceded by a comma.

Here we have two clauses:

• Мой брат любит пончики
• а сестра всегда берёт пирожное к чаю

So the comma marks the boundary between them.

Yes, ё represents a different sound from е.

• берёт is pronounced roughly biryot
• not the same as if it were plain е

In real Russian writing, people often replace ё with е, so you may sometimes see берет in ordinary texts even when it should be pronounced берёт. That can be confusing for learners.

So it is good to learn the correct form with ё:

• берёт

In this sentence, пирожное is a noun meaning pastry, cake, or dessert pastry.

Historically, some words like this come from adjective forms, but in modern Russian пирожное is treated as a normal noun.

It is neuter singular, which is why it ends in -ое.

Absolutely.

Both are possible:

• Мой брат любит пончики, а сестра всегда берёт пирожное к чаю.
• Мой брат любит пончики, а моя сестра всегда берёт пирожное к чаю.

The version without моя is a bit less repetitive and sounds very natural. The meaning is still understood as my sister.