Word
Мой ровесник быстро постарел и выглядит на десять лет старше, а я не хочу стареть.
Meaning
My peer aged quickly and looks ten years older, but I do not want to age.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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
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.