Breakdown of Ему было двадцать два года, когда он решил жениться.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
два
two
год
year
быть
to be
Questions & Answers about Ему было двадцать два года, когда он решил жениться.
Why do we say ему было instead of он был?
In Russian, age is expressed using the Dative case. Instead of saying "he was 22," you literally say "to him it was 22 years." Therefore, we use ему (to him) instead of он (he).
Since ему refers to a man, why is the verb было in the neuter form instead of the masculine был?
Because this is an impersonal sentence. There is no active Nominative subject doing the action. When a past-tense verb doesn't have a grammatical subject to agree with, it defaults to the neuter singular form было.
Why is the word for years года here instead of лет?
When counting years, the noun's form changes based on the last digit of the number. Because 22 ends in два (two), it takes the genitive singular form года. You only use лет (the genitive plural) for numbers ending in 5-9, 0, and the teens like 11-19.
Why does the sentence use ему in the first half, but switch to он in the second half?
Each half of the sentence has its own grammatical rules. The first half is about age, which requires the Dative case (ему). In the second half, "he" is the active subject who is deciding something, so it switches back to the standard Nominative case (он).
Does жениться mean "to get married" for anyone?