Breakdown of Твой чай вкусный, но он слабее, чем мой кофе.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
чай
tea
кофе
coffee
мой
my / mine
Questions & Answers about Твой чай вкусный, но он слабее, чем мой кофе.
How do we form the comparative слабее?
It comes from the adjective слабый (weak). To make this type of comparative, you simply drop the adjective ending (-ый) and add the suffix -ее. Remember that short comparatives ending in -ее never change for gender, number, or case!
Could I say this without using the word чем (than)?
Yes! When comparing things in Russian, you can use чем followed by the Nominative case (as in чем мой кофе). Alternatively, you can drop чем entirely and just put the second item in the Genitive case. Because кофе is an indeclinable noun and never changes its ending, the Genitive version would be слабее моего кофе.
Why is it мой кофе? Doesn't the -е ending usually mean a noun is neuter?
Кофе is one of the most famous exceptions in Russian grammar! It is traditionally a masculine noun, not neuter. That is why we must use the masculine word for "my" (мой) instead of the neuter version (моё).
Why does the sentence use он when talking about a drink?
In English, we use "it" for objects and drinks, but in Russian, pronouns must match the noun's grammatical gender. Чай (tea) is a masculine noun because it ends in a consonant (й). Therefore, it is replaced by the masculine pronoun он.