Lesson 070

The comparative degree of Russian adjectives: the long form

Russian adjectives (most of them) have two comparative degrees: the long form and the short form. In today’s lesson we’ll learn how to form the long form.

Formation

Actually, it is very easy – all you need to do is to add бо́лее (more) or ме́нее (less) to the long form of adjective:

Э́та су́мка тяжёлая.
This bag is heavy.

Э́та су́мка бо́лее тяжёлая, чем та.
This bag is heavier than that one.

Кака́я краси́вая фотогра́фия!
What a beautiful photo!

Э́та фотогра́фия ме́нее краси́вая, чем та.
This photo is less beautiful than that one.

Более and менее don’t change in gender and number.

Russian Pod 101

Exceptions

Not all Russian adjectives makes their long form this way, there are some exceptions that have one-word comparative degree. They are:

хоро́ший (good): лу́чший (better)
плохо́й (bad): ху́дший (worse)
молодо́й (young): мла́дший (younger, junior)
ста́рый (old): ста́рший (elder, senior)
большо́й (big): бо́льший (bigger)
ма́ленький (small): ме́ньший (smaller)

Practice the Russian words and phrases of this lesson with the audio track.

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The offline version of this lesson is available here

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2 comments on “070 – The comparative degree of Russian adjectives: the long form”

  1. Kate says:

    маленький – stress is on first syllable.

    1. Learn Russian Step by Step says:

      Hello Kate,

      Thank you for noticing, good luck!

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