Forming Simple Comparative Adjectives

1. Two Ways to Compare in Russian

In Russian, just like in English, there are two main ways to make a comparison.

1. The "long" way: Using the word for "more" (более) or "less" (менее). This is similar to saying "more interesting" in English.
2. The "short" or "simple" way: Changing the adjective's ending or using a special irregular word. This is like changing "big" to "bigger" or "good" to "better".

The simple form is much more common in everyday conversation, so we will focus on mastering that today.

To get an overview of these concepts, let's watch a video.

2. Forming Simple Comparatives

As you saw in the video, creating simple comparatives is straightforward for many adjectives. However, some of the most important ones are irregular and need to be memorized, much like "good" -> "better" in English.

The Regular Pattern: Adding -ее

For many adjectives, you form the comparative by dropping the ending (like -ый, -ая, -ое) and adding the suffix -ее (pronounced "-yey-e").

• интере́сн**ый** (interesting) → интере́сн**ее** (more interesting)
• краси́в**ый** (beautiful) → краси́в**ее** (more beautiful)
• тру́дн**ый** (difficult) → трудн**ее** (more difficult)

This is a very common and productive pattern.

The Irregulars: The Ones You'll Use All the Time

Some of the most frequently used adjectives have special, irregular comparative forms. These don't follow the -ее rule and are essential to memorize.

Let's watch the next segment of the same video, which is dedicated to these irregulars.

Here is a summary of the most crucial irregular comparatives:

For a handy written reference of these irregulars, you can review the "Special & Irregular Forms" section of the article "Comparing Things in Russian".

3. Using Comparatives in Sentences

Now that you know how to form comparatives, how do you use them? The simplest way is with the word чем (than).

The structure is: Thing A + Comparative Adjective + чем + Thing B.

• Москва́ **бо́льше**, **чем** Санкт-Петербу́рг. (Moscow is bigger than St. Petersburg.)
• Э́та зада́ча **трудне́е**, **чем** та. (This task is more difficult than that one.)
• Игра́ть в видеои́гры **интере́снее**, **чем** де́лать дома́шнее зада́ние. (Playing video games is more interesting than doing homework.)

Notice that the comparative form (e.g., бо́льше, трудне́е, интере́снее) does not change for gender or number. It's one form for everything, which makes it simple to use!

This image provides several excellent examples of this structure in action.

4. Practice

Let's put your new knowledge to the test. Complete the following sentences by filling in the blank with the correct comparative form of the adjective in parentheses.

1. Э́та кни́га ___________ , чем тот фильм. (интере́сный)
2. Ко́фе ___________ , чем чай. (хоро́ший)
3. Мой но́вый телефо́н ___________ , чем ста́рый. (дорого́й)
4. Зима́ в Росси́и ___________ , чем ле́то. (холо́дный -> холодне́е)

Conclusion

Отлично! (Excellent!) You've just unlocked a major tool for expressing yourself in Russian. By learning to compare things, your descriptions can become much more specific and personal.

Key Takeaways:

• There are two ways to form comparatives, but the simple form (using suffixes or irregulars) is most common in speech.
• The regular pattern is to add -ее to the adjective stem (e.g., интере́сный → интере́снее).
• A few crucial adjectives have irregular forms that must be memorized: хоро́ший → лу́чше, плохо́й → ху́же, большо́й → бо́льше.
• The standard way to build a comparison sentence is with чем (than).

Preview of the next lesson:
Now that you can form comparisons, the next step is to state your opinions about them. In our next lesson, we will learn how to use the construction Я ду́маю, что... (I think that...), which will allow you to say things like, "I think this game is better than that one."