Breakdown of Мой ровесник быстро постарел и выглядит на десять лет старше, а я не хочу стареть.
и
and
не
not
а
and (contrastive)
я
I
мой
my / mine
быстро
fast, quickly
хотеть
to want
десять
ten
год
year
старше
older
выглядеть
to look, to appear
на
by (a difference in amount)
ровесник
the peer
постареть
to grow old
стареть
to age
Questions & Answers about Мой ровесник быстро постарел и выглядит на десять лет старше, а я не хочу стареть.
Why do we use на in на десять лет старше? Can't we just say десять лет старше?
In Russian, to express by how much someone or something is older, bigger, or better, you must use the preposition на followed by the accusative case (here, the quantity десять лет). It translates to 'older by ten years'. If you drop на, the phrase is grammatically incorrect.
Why is it лет instead of годов after десять?
After numbers 5 and above, like десять in the accusative case, you must use the genitive plural. The word год (year) has an irregular genitive plural form: лет (which is historically related to the word for summer).
Why use the perfective постарел first, but the imperfective стареть at the end?
Постарел describes a completed result: the peer has already aged. On the other hand, the speaker uses the imperfective стареть after не хочу because they are referring to the general, ongoing process of getting older, not a specific completed event.
Why does the sentence use а for 'but' instead of но?
The conjunction а is perfect here because it sets up a direct contrast between two different subjects (the peer vs. the speaker). Но is generally used to show an unexpected outcome or obstacle, whereas а simply compares two contrasting facts.
Does ровесник just mean a colleague or classmate?
No, ровесник specifically means someone of the exact same age as you. If you wanted to say classmate or colleague, you would use words like одноклассник or коллега.
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