Question about comparatives

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

*THUD*

Test in two hours. Procrastination - bad. Missing class - bad. Cramming much.

If anyone is out there, can you answer a small question? When using the comparative form of an adjective, does the sentence *need* to contain the thing being compared against (I don't know the technical term; sorry)?

For example:

Моя мама красивее, чем твоя мама!

I'm fairly sure that that's correct. But what if a dialogue is taking place?

-Моя мама очень красивая.
-А я мама красивее!

The first speaker's mom is implied but not stated in the second sentence. Is this possible?

And what if you want to say "I cook better than I used to"? Would you use a comparative adjective, or is a completely different form used?

Comments

[corriel.livejournal.com]

As far as I know it's possible and common. I just think the answer would be:
-А моя (мама) красивее!

I'd translate "I cook better than I used to" as:
Я лучше готовлю, чем я... (then I'm not sure how to translate).
So it's the comparative adjective "лучше" which stands for "хорошо" (as "better" for "good").

I hope that'll help u!

[kosyrin.livejournal.com]

As far as I know it's possible and common. I just think the answer would be:
-А моя (мама) красивее!

It's correct. But you can skip word "мама" -- it will be more 'live' Russian. :-)

I'd translate "I cook better than I used to" as:
Я лучше готовлю, чем я... (then I'm not sure how to translate).

You have to say "я готовлю лучше, чем обычно" ("i cook better than usual").

--

I'm another one native speeker, but my english is not as good as other's, sorry. :-) It's a lot of fun watching you guys, i can't stop. :-)

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

It definitely helps! I'm no longer quite sure I'm going to have a heart attack. Thanks.

I don't think he'll ask us to translate anything like "I used to" on the test because we simply haven't learned how to do it yet - I was just curious. :)

[centralasian.livejournal.com]

1.
Моя мама красивее, чем твоя мама!

you could skip the second "мама" ::

- Моя мама красивее, чем твоя!

2.
-Моя мама очень красивая.
-А я мама красивее!

the second person can immediately enhance the meaning with "ещё" ::

-Моя мама очень красивая.
-А моя [мама] - ещё красивее!

3.
"I cook better than I used to"

literally, it means "[сейчас] я готовлю лучше, чем [я готовил] раньше". parts in brackets can be skipped.

therefore, i think that "я готовлю лучше, чем обычно" is not a correct translation... close meaning, but not exactly what you meant.

however, and i'm sure it is true for all languages, one can convey the same meaning using a whole range of sentences, depending on the contexts. these sentences would all have slightly different nuances in their meanings, though... the same but not the same...

try to translate, for example:

сейчас я готовлю лучше, чем раньше...

сейчас-то я готовлю лучше, чем раньше...

как хорошо я стал готовить, не то, что раньше...

раньше я готовил намного хуже, чем сейчас

[the latter is obviously a VERY different sentence gramatically, but content-wise it’s kind of the same]