The comparative degree of Russian adjectives: the short form

Russian grammar: The comparative degree

In the previous lesson we learned how to form the long form of comparative degree of Russian adjectives. Today let’s look at the short form.

Formation of the short form

Drop off the ending of an adjective and add -ее. This form doesn’t change in gender and number:

дли́нный (long) – длинне́е (longer)
сла́бый (weak) – слабе́е (weaker)
краси́вый (beautiful) – краси́вее (more beautiful)
серьёзный (serious) – серьёзнее (more serious)

Note: when the stem has one syllable, the stress always falls on the ending: -е́е.

Exceptions

Below some exceptions are listed. These adjectives change one consonant in their stem and add one unstressed -е instead of -ее.

ти́хий (quiet) – ти́ше (quieter)
гро́мкий (loud) – гро́мче (louder)
лёгкий (easy, light) – ле́гче (easier, lighter)
высо́кий (high) – вы́ше (higher)
ни́зкий (low) – ни́же (lower)
у́зкий (narrow) – у́же (narrower)

Other adjectives look a bit or completely different:

хоро́ший (good) – лу́чше (better)
плохо́й (bad) – ху́же (worse)
ма́ленький (small) – ме́ньше (smaller)
ста́рый (old) – ста́рше (older)
молодо́й (young) – моло́же (younger)

Practice the examples of this lesson with the audio track.

The offline version of this lesson is available here

• 070. The comparative degree of Russian adjectives: the long form
• 072. The superlative degree of Russian adjectives