Breakdown of Вчера я поссорился с моей старшей сестрой.
сестра
sister
я
I
мой
my / mine
вчера
yesterday
с
with (also со)
старший
older, elder
поссориться
to have an argument / to fall out
Questions & Answers about Вчера я поссорился с моей старшей сестрой.
Why does the verb поссорился end in -ся?
It is a reciprocal reflexive verb. While the -ся ending often means an action is done to oneself, here it shows a reciprocal action: two parties doing something with or to each other. Verbs of mutual action like this one are usually followed by с (with) and the Instrumental case.
Why do we use моей старшей сестрой instead of the dictionary form моя старшая сестра?
The preposition с (with) requires the Instrumental case. The feminine noun сестра changes its ending to -ой to become сестрой. Any adjectives and pronouns describing it must also match this feminine Instrumental case, so моя becomes моей and старшая becomes старшей.
How would this sentence change if a woman was speaking?
Russian past tense verbs must match the gender of the subject. A male speaker says поссорился, but a female speaker would change the ending to match the feminine past tense, saying поссорилась instead.
Does старшая mean 'old' or 'older' here?
It means 'older'. The basic word for 'old' is старый, but старший is a specific comparative adjective meaning 'older' or 'senior'. It is the standard way to refer to older siblings in Russian, as in старшая сестра (older sister).
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