Друг любит рыться в старье.

Russian often leaves out possessives like мой when they are obvious from context.

So друг can mean:

• a friend
• my friend
• the friend

The exact meaning depends on the situation. Russian has no articles, so one word can cover what English splits into a and the.

If the sentence appears by itself, Друг любит рыться в старье is often understood as something like My friend likes rummaging through old junk or A friend likes rummaging through old junk, depending on context.

Yes, друг is the masculine word for friend and usually refers to a male friend.

• друг = male friend
• подруга = female friend

If the speaker is talking about a woman, you would normally expect подруга любит рыться в старье.

This is a very common Russian pattern:

• любить + infinitive = to like/love doing something

So:

• любит рыться = likes/loves rummaging

This works much like English likes to rummage or likes rummaging.

Here, любит is the 3rd person singular form of любить, so it agrees with друг:

• я люблю
• ты любишь
• он/она любит

Since друг is singular, you use любит.

Рыться means something like:

• to rummage
• to dig around
• to sift through things
• to poke around in a pile of stuff

It usually suggests searching through a messy collection of objects, often with your hands.

So in this sentence, the idea is not just looking at old things, but actively digging through them.

Because these are different verbs.

• рыть usually means to dig in a literal sense, like digging a hole or trench.
• рыться means to rummage around, to dig through things, often metaphorically or with loose objects.

The -ся form here is part of the verb’s normal meaning. It is not a direct equivalent of English oneself every time. You should learn рыться as its own vocabulary item.

So:

• рыть яму = to dig a hole
• рыться в коробке = to rummage in a box

It is in the prepositional case after в, because the meaning here is in / among / through a set of things.

The base form is:

• старьё = old junk, old stuff, odds and ends

After в, it becomes:

• в старье = in the old junk / among the old stuff

This is the normal prepositional singular form of старьё.

Compare:

• старьё = nominative
• в старье = prepositional

Старьё means old junk, old stuff, old odds and ends. It is usually not very neutral.

It often has a slightly dismissive or colloquial feeling, like:

• junk
• old rubbish
• old crap (depending on tone)

So this is different from more positive or neutral words such as:

• старые вещи = old things / old belongings
• антиквариат = antiques

If someone says рыться в старье, it often suggests rummaging through a pile of old, possibly worthless things, not carefully admiring valuable antiques.

The verb рыться commonly takes в + prepositional to show the place or material you are rummaging through.

Examples:

• рыться в шкафу = to rummage in a wardrobe
• рыться в сумке = to rummage in a bag
• рыться в бумагах = to rummage through papers
• рыться в старье = to rummage through old junk

So в is the normal preposition used with this verb in this meaning.

Yes. Друг любит рыться в старье is a normal, neutral word order.

A rough structure is:

• Друг = subject
• любит = verb
• рыться в старье = infinitive phrase

Russian word order is flexible, but this version sounds straightforward and natural.

You could move things around for emphasis, but the basic sentence is fine as is.

Рыться is imperfective.

That matters because after любить, Russian normally uses the imperfective infinitive when talking about something someone likes doing in general.

So:

• любит рыться = likes rummaging / likes to rummage

This expresses a habitual or general preference, not one completed action.

A perfective verb would usually sound wrong here unless you meant liking to achieve a completed result, which is not the idea in this sentence.

Yes, ё matters.

• старьё is pronounced roughly star-YO
• the stress is on the final syllable: -ё

In writing, Russian often replaces ё with е, so you may sometimes see старье, but the pronunciation is still старьё.

That final ё is important because it tells you both the pronunciation and the stress.