Breakdown of Моя сестра смелее, чем я, поэтому она плавает ночью.
сестра
sister
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
я
I
мой
my / mine
ночью
at night
плавать
to swim
поэтому
so (therefore)
чем
than / the (in comparisons)
смелый
brave
Questions & Answers about Моя сестра смелее, чем я, поэтому она плавает ночью.
How did we form the word смелее (braver)?
It comes from the adjective смелый (brave). To make the comparative form (meaning "braver" or "more brave"), you simply drop the ending -ый and add -ее. A great thing about this -ее form is that it never changes for gender, number, or case!
Why do we use чем я here, and is there another way to say "than me"?
The word чем means "than," and it is always followed by the nominative (dictionary) case, which is я here. You can also drop the word чем completely and just put the person you are comparing to in the genitive case. So, you could also say Моя сестра смелее меня. Both are very common!
Wait, isn't "night" ночь? Why does it say ночью?
The word ночь is the basic noun for "night." However, when you want to say that an action happens "at night" or "during the night," Russian uses the instrumental case of the word. The instrumental form of ночь is ночью.
I always mix up поэтому and потому что. How do I know which one to use here?
They are exact opposites in sentence structure! поэтому means "therefore" or "so," introducing the result (she is braver, therefore she swims). потому что means "because," introducing the reason. If you wanted to use потому что, you would have to flip the sentence: Она плавает ночью, потому что она смелее, чем я.
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