Breakdown of Мы ровесники, но она выглядит значительно старше.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
мы
we
но
but
старше
older
Questions & Answers about Мы ровесники, но она выглядит значительно старше.
The current lesson is about using на for comparatives of difference. Why is there no на before значительно?
You use на + Accusative when stating a specific noun-based quantity (like на два года старше - two years older). However, with pure adverbs of degree like значительно (significantly), гораздо (much), or немного (a little), you do not use на. You simply place the adverb directly before the comparative.
What is the exact meaning of ровесники, and are there gendered forms of this word?
ровесники means people of the exact same age (peers or contemporaries). The singular masculine is ровесник, and there is a feminine form, ровесница. Because the sentence starts with мы (we), it naturally uses the plural form.
Why does the sentence use старше for the concept of older instead of старее?
старше is the comparative used specifically when talking about the age or seniority of people. старее is used for inanimate objects to mean older in the physical sense of being more worn out or ancient, such as an old car or a building.
I remember that adjectives describing how someone looks after выглядеть can be in the instrumental case. Does that apply to comparatives like старше?