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Today I would like to analyze the comparative form of adjectives because this form is no less important and plays a key role, if we talk about comparison. Let’s consider in detail, how to make this form and memorize it:
The comparative form is made by means of an adjective with the ending «-ее», for example:
Маша умнее, чем Антон. Она всегда знает ответы на все вопросы из учебника [Masha umnee, chem Anton. Ana fsigda znait atvety na fse vaprosy is uchebnika] – Masha is smarter than Anton. She always knows all the answers from the book.
It is necessary to remember, only qualitative adjectives have the comparative and superlative forms, quantitative ones do not have them.
2 degrees of comparison: simple form which is made by adding the suffix, and compound one.
Root/stem of an adjective + suffix –ее:
умный - умнЕЕ (smart - smarter)
стройный - стройнЕЕ (slim - slimer)
Remember, please, comparative adjectives neither change nor inflect:
Она умнее его [Ana umnee yevo] - She is smarter than he
Они умнее их [Ani umnee ikh] - They are smarter than they
Я умнее многих [Ya umnee mnogikh] - I am smarter than most people.
These examples show that the adjective «умнее» is in comparative form and doesn’t change regardless of gender and number. Sometimes you can see the sentences without the word «чем» –it is possible in Russian.
But there are a number of exceptions which are formed without any rules, so you should learn them:
| Прилагательное | Сравнительная форма | |
| Плохой | Хуже | [plakhoj - khuzhe] - Bad - Worse |
| Хороший | Лучше | [kharoshij - luchshe] - Good - Better |
| Лёгкий | Легче | [l'okhkij - lekhche] - Light - Lighter |
| Высокий | Выше | [vysokij - vyshe] - High - Higher |
| Низкий | Ниже | [nizkij - nizhe] - low - lower |
| Дорогой | Дороже | [daragoj - darozhe] - Expensive - More expensive |
| Дешёвый | Дешевле | [dishevij - dishevle] - Cheap - Cheaper |
| Молодой | Моложе | [maladoj - malozhe] - Young - Younger |
| Простой | Проще | [prastoj - proshhe] - simple - simplier |
These are only some of the adjectives-exceptions; I’ve decided to write down the most important ones.
When we want to make up sentences with comparative adjectives, we should remember that the second part of the comparison (an object that is compared) can be as in Nominative as in Genitive cases. For example:
- Твоя машина новее, чем моя [Tvaya mashina navee, chem maya] - Your car is newer than mine.
In this sentence the word «моя» is in Nominative because it stands after the word «чем» which expresses comparison in Russian.
- Твоя машина новее моей [Tvaya mashina navee mayey] - Your car is newer than mine.
In this sentence the word «моей» is in Genitive because we omitted the word «чей».
