Question 1

Why do we use ей instead of она at the beginning of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

In Russian, you don't say "she was [X] years old." Instead, the structure is literally "to her it was [X] years." Because of this, the person having the age is always expressed using the Dative case. So, the nominative она (she) becomes the dative ей (to her).

Question 2

Since the sentence is about a woman, shouldn't the past tense be была instead of было?

Accepted Answer

Age expressions in the past tense are impersonal in Russian. The subject of the sentence isn't the woman; the sentence is structured around the number of years. When expressing age in the past, we always use the neuter form было, regardless of the gender of the person we are talking about.

Question 3

Why is the word for "years" года here, instead of лет?

Accepted Answer

The form of the word "year" depends on the last digit of the number. Because the age here ends in a 2 (два), we must use the genitive singular form года. If the number ended in 5 through 9, 0, or the teens (like 11-19), you would use лет.

Question 4

Why doesn't первый бизнес change its ending, even though it is the direct object she opened?

Accepted Answer

It actually is in the Accusative case, which is used for direct objects. However, бизнес is a masculine, inanimate (non-living) noun. For masculine inanimate nouns, the Accusative case looks exactly the same as the Nominative (dictionary) form, so the endings for both первый and бизнес do not change.

Ей было тридцать два года, когда она открыла первый бизнес.

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