Learn Russian: Моя старшая сестра — настоящая сладкоежка, но она совсем не жадина. - My older sister is a real sweet tooth, but she isn't greedy at all.

Моя старшая сестра — настоящая сладкоежка, но она совсем не жадина.

My older sister is a real sweet tooth, but she isn't greedy at all.

Breakdown of Моя старшая сестра — настоящая сладкоежка, но она совсем не жадина.

she / it (for a feminine noun)

мой

my / mine

Questions & Answers about Моя старшая сестра — настоящая сладкоежка, но она совсем не жадина.

Are сладкоежка and жадина feminine nouns because they end in -а?

They look like standard feminine nouns, but they belong to a special group called common gender nouns (общий род). This means they act as grammatically masculine or feminine depending on who they refer to. Since the subject here is сестра (female), they function as feminine nouns in this sentence.

How would the sentence change if it were about an older brother (старший брат)?

You would say: Мой старший брат — настоящий сладкоежка, но он совсем не жадина. Even though the noun сладкоежка still ends in -а, the modifying adjective (настоящий) must be masculine to match the brother's actual gender. The noun жадина itself doesn't change form either.

Does a common gender noun like сладкоежка decline differently if it refers to a man instead of a woman?

No, the declension endings themselves never change. Both сладкоежка and жадина always decline like regular feminine nouns ending in -а, regardless of the person's biological gender. For example, in the dative case, you would say моему брату-сладкоежке (to my sweet-tooth brother). Only the words modifying these nouns, like adjectives or possessive pronouns, change their gender.

The English translation says "isn't greedy", which is an adjective. Is жадина an adjective in Russian?