Learn Russian: Раньше он был бедный.

Раньше он был бедный.

He used to be poor.

Breakdown of Раньше он был бедный.

он

he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)

Questions & Answers about Раньше он был бедный.

Where is the verb for "used to" in the Russian sentence?

Russian doesn't have a specific verb for "used to." Instead, it uses the word раньше (which literally means "earlier" or "in the past") along with a past tense verb. So раньше он был translates to "earlier he was," which perfectly captures the English meaning of "he used to be."

Why is the verb был used here instead of была?

In the past tense, Russian verbs must match the gender of the subject. Since the subject is он (he), which is masculine, we use the masculine past tense form был. If the sentence were about a woman, it would be Раньше она была...

Why does the word for poor (бедный) end in -ый?

The ending -ый is the standard ending for masculine adjectives. In Russian, adjectives must match the gender of the person or thing they describe. Because бедный describes он (a masculine pronoun), it takes the masculine ending.

Could I change the word order and put раньше at the end of the sentence?

Yes, you could say Он был бедный раньше. Russian word order is quite flexible. However, putting time words like раньше at the very beginning is the most common and natural way to set the scene in Russian.