Questions & Answers about Я взрослый, мне не десять лет!
Why does the second half of the sentence use мне instead of я?
In Russian, you don't say "I am X years old." Instead, you express age using the Dative case for the person, which translates roughly to "To me is X years." That's why we switch from the regular subject pronoun я (I) to the Dative form мне (to me).
Why is the word for "years" лет here? I thought the word for year was год.
The word for "years" changes depending on the number right before it. For numbers ending in 1, you use год. For 2, 3, and 4, you use года. But for numbers 5 through 20 (which includes десять), you must use лет.
Is взрослый an adjective or a noun?
It is technically an adjective meaning "grown-up", but it acts as a noun here to mean "an adult." Because it is an adjective, its ending changes based on gender. A male speaker says Я взрослый, but a female speaker would say Я взрослая.
Why do we use не instead of нет for "not" in this sentence?
Нет is used for the standalone word "no" or to show the complete absence of something. To negate a specific fact in a sentence—like denying that you are exactly ten years old—you use не directly in front of the word you are negating. So, "not ten" simply becomes не десять.
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