Breakdown of Ваше место — номер тринадцать, а моё — четырнадцать.
а
and (contrastive)
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
ваш
your [formal/plural] (ваш, ваша, ваше)
место
place, seat
номер
number (phone, room)
тринадцать
thirteen
четырнадцать
fourteen
Questions & Answers about Ваше место — номер тринадцать, а моё — четырнадцать.
How are the numbers тринадцать (13) and четырнадцать (14) formed?
In Russian, numbers from 11 to 19 are built by taking the base number, adding на (on), and then дцать (an old word for ten). So тринадцать is literally 'three-on-ten' and четырнадцать is 'four-on-ten'. Notice that the base numbers can change spelling slightly, like dropping the soft sign at the end of четыре when making 14.
Why do we use Ваше and моё here instead of Ваш and мой?
These possessive words mean 'your' and 'mine', and they must match the gender of the noun they describe. Because место (seat or place) is a neuter noun, we need the neuter forms Ваше and моё.
Why are there dashes (—) in this sentence?
The first dash stands in for the verb 'is', which is usually left out in the present tense in Russian. The second dash does the same thing, but it also replaces the repeated words место номер (seat number), making the sentence flow better: 'and mine [is] fourteen'.
The English translation says 'and', but the Russian sentence uses а. Why not use и?
The word а is used to show a slight contrast or shift in focus. Here, you are comparing two different things: your seat versus my seat. When making this kind of contrast, Russian uses а rather than the simple additive 'and' (и).
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