Russian comparatives
Mar. 13th, 2003 08:52 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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learn_russianI need to go over it all myself, so I figured that I'd post here for the good of mankind. Feel free to correct any mistakes. LJ-cut for length.
Russian Comparatives
Russian comparatives are quite easy. In most cases, it's just the adjective with a -ее ending instead of -о/ы/и-й. But consonant shift and some irregulars do apply. Note that many consonant-shift adjectives have only a single е.
Examples:
умный -> умнее smart-smarter
новый -> новее new-newer
красивый -> красивее pretty-prettier (or, beautiful-more beautiful)
богатый -> богаче rich-richer
ранний -> раньше early-earlier
хороший -> лучше good-better
плохой -> хуже bad-worse
However, once you form a comparative, it is not an adjective - it is incorrect to say <<новее машина>> for "newer car". But because these forms are not adjectives, you don't have to worry about declining them in any way - just throw them in.
Since they are not adjectives, how do you say things like "I live in a newer house"? Through use of the word более - <<Я живу в более новом доме>>. Notice how the adjective is declined in this case. You may have noticed that with its -ее ending, более looks awfully lot like a comparative itself. It is!
X is ____er than Y - comparing to an object
There are two possibilities here - using the genative case, or using чем.
Using the genitive
Generally, for simple objects, the genitive case is used. One line that came up in Chekov's "The Bet" (<<Пари>>) was <<Я умнее всех вас.>> - "I am smarter than all of you." However, it is not incorrect to use чем in this instance, but more natural-sounding to use the genitive.
Other examples:
Наташа красивее Нины. - Natasha is prettier than Nina.
этот дом новее того дома. - This house is newer than that house.
Наташа красивее, чем Нина.
этот дом новее, чем тот дом.
Using чем
Чем is mostly used when there is a whole phrase as the object, when you can't really use the genitive.
Example:
По-английски, сказать "I like kittens" лучше, чем сказать "The kittens are pleasing to me." - In English, saying ... is better than saying...
Notice the use of the comma to introduce the чем-clause.
The most - Russian superlatives
So far, we've discussed newer, but not newest. To form superlatives in Russian, use the adjective самый before the other adjective (not its comparative). Because we're using adjectives again, we have to get back to declining, including самый.
Examples:
Она самая умная девушка. - She's the smartest girl.
Я живу в самом новом доме. - I live in the newest building.
Он видел самую красивую девушку. - He saw the prettiest girl.
For emphasis, one can use самый лучший instead of самый хороший for something that is the "most bestest."
I hope that I was clear, helpful, and not incorrect.
Russian Comparatives
Russian comparatives are quite easy. In most cases, it's just the adjective with a -ее ending instead of -о/ы/и-й. But consonant shift and some irregulars do apply. Note that many consonant-shift adjectives have only a single е.
Examples:
умный -> умнее smart-smarter
новый -> новее new-newer
красивый -> красивее pretty-prettier (or, beautiful-more beautiful)
богатый -> богаче rich-richer
ранний -> раньше early-earlier
хороший -> лучше good-better
плохой -> хуже bad-worse
However, once you form a comparative, it is not an adjective - it is incorrect to say <<новее машина>> for "newer car". But because these forms are not adjectives, you don't have to worry about declining them in any way - just throw them in.
Since they are not adjectives, how do you say things like "I live in a newer house"? Through use of the word более - <<Я живу в более новом доме>>. Notice how the adjective is declined in this case. You may have noticed that with its -ее ending, более looks awfully lot like a comparative itself. It is!
X is ____er than Y - comparing to an object
There are two possibilities here - using the genative case, or using чем.
Using the genitive
Generally, for simple objects, the genitive case is used. One line that came up in Chekov's "The Bet" (<<Пари>>) was <<Я умнее всех вас.>> - "I am smarter than all of you." However, it is not incorrect to use чем in this instance, but more natural-sounding to use the genitive.
Other examples:
Наташа красивее Нины. - Natasha is prettier than Nina.
этот дом новее того дома. - This house is newer than that house.
Наташа красивее, чем Нина.
этот дом новее, чем тот дом.
Using чем
Чем is mostly used when there is a whole phrase as the object, when you can't really use the genitive.
Example:
По-английски, сказать "I like kittens" лучше, чем сказать "The kittens are pleasing to me." - In English, saying ... is better than saying...
Notice the use of the comma to introduce the чем-clause.
The most - Russian superlatives
So far, we've discussed newer, but not newest. To form superlatives in Russian, use the adjective самый before the other adjective (not its comparative). Because we're using adjectives again, we have to get back to declining, including самый.
Examples:
Она самая умная девушка. - She's the smartest girl.
Я живу в самом новом доме. - I live in the newest building.
Он видел самую красивую девушку. - He saw the prettiest girl.
For emphasis, one can use самый лучший instead of самый хороший for something that is the "most bestest."
I hope that I was clear, helpful, and not incorrect.
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no subject
You can't say as in your lj-cut text "я бы люблю читать". That doesn't make sense really. Did you mean "I'd love/like to read"? If so then you should say "Я бы хотел(а) прочитать".
По-англиский, сказать "I like kittens" лучше, чем сказать "The kittens are pleasing to me."
It's "по-английски" ("по-русски", "по-испански" и т.д.), the "й" is unnecessary.
For emphasis, one can use самый лучше instead of самый хороший for something that is the "most bestest".
Does the form "bestest" exist? I thought it's "good, better, best"..
And "самый лучше" isn't right. The right is "самый лучший" or "наилучший".
no subject
Date: 2003-03-13 08:18 am (UTC)most bestest - no, "bestest" doesn't exist. I was making light of English usage and also trying to give a more literal translation of самый лучший. Although probably a more accurate literal translation would be "most best", I was going for super-emphasis. "Most bestest" is also how I personally remember it.
Went back and fixed the mistakes, although I'm going to be stubborn on the "bestest" point, as it's more a matter of style.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-13 08:32 am (UTC):) No problem, one can't learn without making mistakes. It's just "бы" is always used with a verb in past tense. You used it with present.
And for expression "I'd like to"/"I'd love to" itself, in Russian there is an equivalent expression "я бы хотел(а)", the verb любить/нравиться doesn't suit.
If it's an answer, for example in dialog such as this:
- Would you go for a walk with me?
- Yes, I'd love to.
you should translate "I'd love to" as "С удовольствим".
although I'm going to be stubborn on the "bestest" point, as it's more a matter of style.
Oh, no problem :) It's just I didn't get you. I personally also like such ways to remember things :) And Russian is very flexible about it.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-13 08:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-13 07:47 pm (UTC)Yes, as soon as you brought it up, I remembered learning it in class in exactly that manner (бы + past). I was paying so much attention to spelling, though (I have a horrible tendency to want to make every adjective end in -ий, no matter how they're supposed to be spelled), that every other lesson floating around in my head forgot to assert itself.
But overall I'm pleased that I got the content itself right and some spelling wrong.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-13 09:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-13 11:26 pm (UTC)Only I'd say you should always say самый лучший. Самый хороший sounds a little strange to me.
By the way, real Russian quotes - «» - can be generated by holding Alt and typing 0171 (left «) and 0187 (right »). It's perfectly OK to use ordinary quotes - "" - in Russian as well. The «» quotes are called ёлочки in Russian ('little firs', which is also the name for a decorative pattern called 'herring bone' in English), and the "" quotes, лапки ('little paws').
no subject
Date: 2003-03-14 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-26 03:53 pm (UTC)(наи)умнейший
(наи)красивейший
(наи)новейший