Breakdown of Мой брат старше, он скачал старую версию.
брат
brother
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
старый
old
мой
my / mine
Questions & Answers about Мой брат старше, он скачал старую версию.
Why is the word for "older" старше instead of a regular comparative form?
Старше is an irregular comparative. While you might expect a regular ending added to старый (old), Russian uses the special form старше when talking about someone's age (meaning "older" or "elder").
Does старше change its ending if I talk about my sister instead of my brother?
No, it stays exactly the same! Irregular comparatives like старше, младше (younger), and лучше (better) don't change for gender, number, or case. You would say моя сестра старше (my sister is older) just like мой брат старше.
Why are the endings -ую and -ию used in старую версию?
They are in the accusative case because they are the direct object receiving the action of the verb скачал (downloaded). The dictionary form is старая версия (feminine). In the accusative case, the feminine adjective ending -ая changes to -ую, and the noun ending -ия changes to -ию.
Why does the sentence use the perfective verb скачал?
Скачал shows that the action is completely finished and has a result today. The brother successfully downloaded the file. If we used the imperfective form, it would mean he was only in the process of downloading it, or downloaded things repeatedly.