Question 1

Why do we use мне instead of я here?

Accepted Answer

In Russian, you don't say "I am X years old." Instead, age is expressed using the Dative case, which acts like saying "to me is X years." That's why the nominative я (I) becomes the dative мне (to me).

Question 2

Why is the verb было (neuter) used instead of был (masculine) or была (feminine)?

Accepted Answer

When expressing age in the past, the verb doesn't agree with your gender. Instead, it interacts with the number. Because quantities of five or more (like десять) are treated as impersonal amounts in Russian, the verb defaults to the neuter singular form было.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

The word for "year" changes based on the number. For 1 (and numbers ending in 1), you use год. For numbers ending in 2, 3, and 4, you use года. For 5 to 20 (including десять), you use the genitive plural form лет (which historically means "summers").

Question 4

Is прошлое a noun or an adjective here?

Accepted Answer

It functions as a noun meaning "the past," even though it has the neuter adjective ending -ое. Russian often turns adjectives into nouns, similar to how we say "the past" or "the good" in English.

Это прошлое, мне было только десять лет.

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