Breakdown of Он старше, и ему не нравится это обновление.
и
and
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
нравиться
to please / to appeal
старше
older
обновление
the update
Questions & Answers about Он старше, и ему не нравится это обновление.
Why is "older" translated as старше here instead of using более (more)?
старше is the special, irregular comparative form of the adjective старый (old). For many common adjectives like this one, Russian prefers these short, one-word forms over using более (more).
Why does the second part of the sentence use ему (to him) instead of он (he)?
In Russian, the verb нравиться (to like) literally means "to be pleasing to". The person who experiences the feeling must be in the Dative case. So instead of saying "he likes", Russian phrasing works like "it is pleasing to him" (ему нравится).
Since he is the one who doesn't like it, why is это обновление (this update) in the Nominative (subject) case?
Because of how нравиться works, the thing being liked is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence. The update is the thing doing the "pleasing", so it stays in the Nominative case rather than taking an object case.
Why do we use это for "this" instead of этот or эта?
это is the neuter form of the word "this". It matches the noun обновление (update), which is neuter because it ends in -ие.
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