The Incomparable Russian Comparative

As in all languages, most Russian qualitative adjectives may undergo comparison. Only qualitative adjectives may be compared because only this type of adjective refers to qualities of objects which may vary in degrees. Qualitiative adjectives also generate nouns (fairness, adverbs (fairly), and may be used in predicate position (Fred is fair). Only this type of noun is subject to comparison. Relative adjectives, like budgetary, rural, dental, which share none of these relations, are not subject to comparison.

There is also a semantic test of comparability. In order to be comparable, a qualitative adjective must refer to a variable, not absolulte, quality. Infinite in the phrase infinite wisdom, even though it bespeaks a quality, it can't be compared since it refers to an absolute, not a variable, quality. Of course, we create language, so we can do what we like with it and we do say things like more infinite and more absolute. However, these are not true comparatives; we mean "more nearly infinite", "more nearly absolute", something quite different from the comparative. The true comparative means "having more of the quality named by the adjective".

Most languages with the grammatical category of comparison have three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative—of this I'm comparatively positive. The positive degree in English is expressed by the preposition as: an aardvark as smart as mine. The comparative degree is illustrated by an aardvark smarter than mine, and the superlative degree by the smartest aardvark in town. Russian has all three degrees.

Accentuating the Positive (Degree, that is)

The Russian positive degree represents two objects as equal in the given quality: my aardvark is as smart as yours. It is expressed by the short form of the adjective and the conjunctions так . . . как or такой . . . какой and the long form. The following examples are illustrative.

У него сестра так (же) крепка, как и моя. 'His sister is as strong as mine.'

У него сестра такая же крепкая, как и моя. 'His sister is as strong as mine'

Just remember that you must use такой with the long form adjective and так with the short form.

The Comparative Degree

The Regular Long Comparative Form

The comparative degree also differs depending upon whether you use the long or short form of the adjective. The long comparative is simple: you just add более 'more' before the long-form adjective:

Саша более ленивый рабочий чем я. 'Sasha is a lazier worker than me.'

Саша более ленивый чем брат. 'Sasha is lazier than his brother'.

The Regular Short Comparative Form

The regular short form of the comparative degree is written -ee but pronounced -ей; in fact, it is written -ей on one word: скорей 'quicker'. This ending replaces the feminine short-form ending and therefore regular comparatives have the same accent placement as the feminine short-form adjective.

Regular Short Form Comparative Adjectives
Base Form	Masculine Short Form	Feminine Short Form	Comparative
умный	умён	умна	умнее
быстрый	быстр	быстра	быстрее
медленный	медлен	медленна	медленнее
новый	нов	нова	новее
скучный	скучен	скучна	скучнее

The Irregular Short Comparative Form

The so-called 'irregular' adjectives are less predictable but still are characterized by general regularity. In general, they are recognized by the ending -e preceded by palatalization. They tend to be short, commonplace adjectives which end on those consonants subject to palatalization. The suffix -ок is dropped but -кий is not. The accent on irregular comparative adjectives is always on the second syllable from the end. The following table lists all the irregular adjectives in Russian with their antonyms, regular or irregular.

Irregular Short Form Comparative Adjectives
Adjective	Gloss	Adverb	Feminine	Comparative
близкий	near	близко	близка	ближе
далёкий	far, distant	далеко	далека	дальше
большой	big, large	велико	велика	больше, более
маленький	little, small	мало	мала	меньше, менее
высокий	high, tall	высоко	высока	выше
низкий	low, short	низко	низка	ниже
глубокий	deep	глубоко	глубока	глубже
мелкий	shallow	мелко	мелка	мельче
громкий	loud	громко	громка	громче
тихий	quiet	тихо	тиха	тише
дорогой	expensive	дорого	дорога	дороже
дешёвый	cheap	дёшево	дешева	дешевле
короткий	short (space)	коротко	коротка	короче
краткий	short (time)	кратко	кратка	кратче
длинный	long (space)	длинно	длинна	длинее
долгий	long (time)	долго	долга	дольше, долее
крепкий	strong	крепко	крепка	крепче
слабый	weak	слабо	слаба	слабее
лёгкий	light, easy	легко	легка	легче
тяжёлый	heavy	тяжело	тяжела	тяжелее
трудный	difficult	трудно	трудна	труднее
молодой	young	молодо	молода	моложе
старый	old	старо	стара	старше, старее
мягкий	soft	мягко	мягка	мягче
твёрдый	hard	твёрдо	тверда	тверже
жёсткий	hard (seat)	жёстко	жестка	жёсче
простой	simple	просто	проста	проще
сложный	complex	сложно	сложна	сложнее
редкий	rare, thin (soup)	редко	редка	реже
частый	frequent	часто	часта	чаще
густой	thick (soup)	густо	густа	гуще
толстый	fat, thick	толсто	толста	толще
тонкий	thin, slim	тонко	тонка	тоньше
хороший	good	хорошо	хороша	лучше
плохой	bad	плохо	плоха	хуже
широкий	wide	широко	широка	шире
узкий	narrow	узко	узка	уже
поздний	late	поздно	поздна	позже
ранний	early	рано	. . .	раньше
богатый	rich	богато	богата	богаче
бедный	poor	бедно	бедна	беднее
чистый	clean, pure	чисто	чиста	чище
грязный	dirty, impure	грязно	грязна	грязнее

The Third Degree: Superlative

Besides the addition of the word самый in the formation of the superlative degree, e. g. самый чистый, самая красивая, самое длинное, you can also add the suffixes √ейший and √айший to all qualitative adjectives in order to derive the superlative. The suffix -айший is added to adjective stems ending on the three velars (к г х). The velars are then palatalized (к > ч, г > ж, х > ш). The suffix -ейший is added to all other qualitative adjectives.

Base Form	Gloss	Superlative	Gloss
тихий	quiet	тишайший	quietest
высокий	tall, high	высочайший	tallest, highest
редкии	rare, weak	редчайший	rarest, weakest

The suffixes -ок, -к are deleted in only two forms:

Base Form	Gloss	Superlative	Gloss
близкий	near, close	ближайший	nearest, closest
узкий	narrow, tight	ужайший	narrowest, tightest

Adjectives whose stems end on all other consonants receive the suffix -ейший.

Base Form	Superlative
толстый	толстейший
глупый	глупейший
интересный	интереснейший
синий	синейший
сложный	сложнейший
простой	простейший

The accent falls on the same syllable as it falls on in the feminine short form.

Comparative Constructions in Russian

How to Say 'Than' in Russian

There are two ways to express the the comparative function, i. e. 'than', in Russian. If two nouns are being compared, the second one may simply be placed in the genitive case:

Маша выше Ирины 'Masha is taller than Irene' Иван умнее Бориса 'Ivan is smarter than Boris'

The preposition чем plus the nominative may be used in all comparative constructions:

Маша выше, чем Ирина 'Masha is higher than Irene' Иван бегает быстрее, чем Борис 'Ivan runs faster than Boris' Озеро шире, чем длинее 'The lake is wider than long'

Other Comparative Expressions

Here is a catalog of other expressions used with comparative adjectives in Russian.

How to Say 'Even More'

In Russian the word for 'even' is ещё:

Маша ешё выше чем Ирина 'Masha is even taller than Irene'

How to Say 'the . . . the'

To say things like 'the more the merrier' in Russian you use the conjunction set чем . . . тем

Чем скорей тем лучше 'The sooner the better'

Чем больше тем лучше The more the better'

How to Say 'as possible'

To say 'as possible', Russians use the phrase как можно before the comparative form of the adjective, as the following examples illustrate:

как можно раньше 'as soon as possible' как можно лучше 'as good as possible'

Comparative Emphasis

To emphasize the extent to which A is superior to B in a comparative construction, insert the word гораздо or, in colloquial Russian, куда before the comparative adjective.

Маша гораздо лучше говорит по-английски чем Ваня. 'Masha speaks English much better than Vanya.' Валя куда умнее Володи. 'Valya is lots smarter than Volodya'

Specifying Comparison

To compare two objects or actions by specific amounts, на plus the accusative is used to denote the dimensions by which A is superior to B.

Алла тяжелее Орфы на 2 килограмма. 'Alla is heavier than Orpha by 2 kilos'

Валя на много умнее Володи. 'Valya is smarter than Volodya by a lot (long shot).'

Now You Play with Comparison

Here are some exercises to play with to see if you are picking up the irregular comparative adjectives and adjective constructions. Beware: a couple of them require two words rather than one.

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Adjective Comparison Exercises
Fill in the Blank	Push	Correct?
Example Мои блины твоих. My blintzes are thicker than yours.
Река всегда после дождей. The river is always deeper after the rains.
Путь по этой дороге. The way is shorter by this road.
Чем дальше . The farther the better.
Привези деньги скорей. Bring money as soon as possible.
Валя куда своего брата. Valya is lots stronger than her brother.
Ее зубы всегда моих. Her teeth are always cleaner than mine.
Володя гораздо своей матери. Volodya is much slimmer than his mom.
Американский хлеб чем русский. American bread is softer than Russian.
Ира писала чем другие. Ira wrote more simply than the others.
Володина голова чуть чем моя. Volodya's head is a bit harder than mine.

©1996 Robert Beard