Originally posted by: TseDanylo on Duolingo Archived here
Вітаю!
Ukrainian is an East Slavic language spoken primarily in Western and Central Ukraine by 40 million people making it the third most spoken Slavic language by number of native speakers in the world!
If there are any terms you do not understand please refer to the grammar glossary
What are comparatives?
Comparative adjectives are adjectives that compare differences between the attributes of two nouns. These are often measurements, such as height, weight, depth, distance, etc., but they don't have to be. We can also use comparative adjectives to compare non-physical characteristics. For example:
- The house is big
but
- The building is bigger
In English we form the comparatives by adding -er to the end or putting more or less before it.
How do we form the comparatives?
Forming the comparative in Ukrainian is a bit more complicated, but overall it shouldn't be too hard to master.
Comparatives in Ukrainian usually end in -ший, -іший or less commonly, -жчий or -щий. The stem of the adjective can also change but generally it looks and sounds pretty much the same. Here is an example from the Duolingo course.
- Мій молодий брат - My young brother
- Мій молодший брат - My younger brother
The comparative may also be formed by putting більш (more) or менш (less) before the adjective:
- Цікавий - Interesting
- Білшь цікавий - More interesting
- Менш цікавий - Less interesting
IRREGULAR COMPARATIVES
- добрий, кращий - good, better
- поганий, гірший - bad, worse
- великий, більший - big, bigger
- малий, менший - small, smaller