Moj brat čita brže nego ja.

My brother reads faster than I do.

Breakdown of Moj brat čita brže nego ja.

• ja: I
• moj: my
• brat: brother
• čitati: to read

Questions & Answers about Moj brat čita brže nego ja.

Why is it moj brat and not moja brat or moje brat?

Because moj has to agree with brat.

Brat is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative here, because it is the subject

So the correct form is moj.

Compare:

• moj brat = my brother
• moja sestra = my sister
• moje dete = my child

What case is brat in here?

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

In Moj brat čita brže nego ja, the one doing the action is moj brat, so nominative is expected.

What exactly is čita?

Čita is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the imperfective verb čitati.

So it matches moj brat:

• ja čitam = I read / I am reading
• ti čitaš = you read
• on / moj brat čita = he / my brother reads

Because čitati is imperfective, čita can mean either:

• reads in a general sense, or