Breakdown of Это моя сестра, она младше меня.
это
this / it is
сестра
sister
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
я
I
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
младше
younger (predicative)
Questions & Answers about Это моя сестра, она младше меня.
Where is the word for "than" in this sentence?
In Russian, you can often skip the word for "than" (чем) by putting the second thing being compared into the Genitive case. Since я (I) becomes меня in the Genitive case, младше меня acts like "younger of me", which means "younger than me".
What is the base dictionary word for младше?
Младше is the comparative form used for age, coming from младший (younger/junior) or маленький (small/little). Russian has several irregular comparative words that don't look like their base adjectives, and this is a very common one.
I remember learning that меня is the Accusative case for "me". Is it Accusative here?
Great memory, but no! For pronouns like я, the Genitive and Accusative forms are identical (меня). In this sentence, it is specifically the Genitive case being used because of the grammar rule for making comparisons without чем.
Could I use чем (than) in this sentence if I wanted to?
Yes! You could say она младше, чем я. Notice that when you use чем, the pronoun goes back to the Nominative dictionary case (я instead of меня). Both ways are perfectly natural, but dropping чем and using the Genitive is very common in everyday speech.
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