Breakdown of Моему брату будет тридцать лет, и он уже планирует свой бизнес.
и
and
брат
brother
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
год
year
быть
to be
уже
already
свой
one's own
тридцать
thirty
планировать
to plan
бизнес
business
Questions & Answers about Моему брату будет тридцать лет, и он уже планирует свой бизнес.
Why does the sentence start with Моему брату instead of Мой брат?
When talking about age in Russian, the person whose age is being stated must be in the Dative case. The literal translation is 'To my brother, it will be thirty years.' So, the nominative мой брат changes to the Dative моему брату.
Why do we use будет here?
Expressing age in Russian uses an impersonal structure. For the future tense, you always use the singular, neutral form будет (it will be) regardless of who you are talking about. You are literally saying 'it will be thirty years to my brother.'
Why is 'years' translated as лет instead of год or года?
The word for 'year' changes depending on the number right before it. Numbers ending in 1 take год, numbers ending in 2, 3, or 4 take года, and numbers ending in 5-9 or zero (like тридцать) take лет.
Why does it say he is planning свой бизнес instead of его бизнес?
Свой means 'one's own.' In Russian, when the subject of the sentence (he) is acting upon something that belongs to them (the business), you must use свой. If you said его бизнес, a Russian speaker would think he is planning some other man's business!
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