Questions & Answers about Ему ровно десять лет.
Why is the sentence using Ему instead of Он for 'He'?
In Russian, you don't say that someone 'is' an age. Instead, you use the Dative case, which acts like saying 'To him are ten years.' Ему is the Dative form of Он (he).
Where is the verb 'is' in this sentence?
In the present tense, Russian usually drops the verb 'to be' (am, is, are). The sentence literally translates to 'To him exactly ten years', and the 'is' is simply understood.
Why do we use лет for 'years' here instead of год or года?
The Russian word for 'year' changes depending on the number right before it. For numbers ending in 5 through 9, 0, and the teens (11-19), you always use лет. Since десять (ten) ends in a zero, it takes лет.
Does the word ровно change if we talk about a woman or multiple people?
No, ровно (exactly) is an adverb, which means its form never changes. You can use it just like this for anyone's age, whether you are talking about a man, a woman, or a group of people.
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