Comparatives and superlatives: bigger, better, the best
A comparative says “more”: bigger, more interesting. A superlative says “most”: the biggest, the most interesting. Russian has a short one-word form for each, and a longer two-word form, and uses them in different places.
A2–B216 min read4 forms · 20 adjectives
вы́ше is irregular (it comes from an older root); most comparatives just add -ее: бы́стрый → быстре́е.
The short answer
After “is”, use the one-word comparative ending in -ее, which never changes: Он быстре́е. Before a noun, use бо́лее + the adjective: бо́лее бы́стрый по́езд. For the superlative, put са́мый before the adjective; both change their endings.
One word that never changes: -ее, -е, or irregular
Most adjectives drop their ending and add -ее. Adjectives whose stem ends in г, к, х, д, т, ст add -е and change that consonant. About a dozen common ones are fully irregular. The simple comparative is the same for every gender and number, and it doubles as the adverb: быстре́е means both “faster” and “more quickly”. Pick an adjective:
Regular · -ее
Consonant change · -е
Irregular
How it’s formed:Drop -ый, add -ее: быстр- + -е́е. Stress moves to the ending.
Stress: in two-syllable adjectives the stress usually moves onto -е́е (бы́стрый → быстре́е, тёплый → тепле́е). In longer ones it stays where it was (интере́сный → интере́снее).
2 · Saying “than”
чем, or the genitive with no “than” at all
There are two ways to say “than”. With чем (than) the compared word keeps its normal form, after a comma. Or drop чем and put the compared word in the genitive case, the “of” form. The genitive is shorter and very common, but it only works after a one-word comparative.
Situation
Example
Why
Genitive · no чем
ко́фе never changes, but it is genitive here. The most common pattern in speech.
Genitive with a pronoun
он → его́. Pronouns are especially common in this pattern.
чем · always possible
With a preposition (в Ло́ндоне), the genitive is impossible: you must use чем.
чем · after бо́лее
After the two-word comparative, only чем works.
чем · comparing actions
Adverbs and infinitives can’t go into the genitive, so чем.
3 · The compound comparative
бо́лее and ме́нее: “more” and “less” before a noun
To describe a noun directly (“a faster train”), the one-word comparative won’t do, because it can’t take case endings. Use бо́лее (more) or ме́нее (less) with the full adjective, which then agrees with the noun as usual. бо́лее itself never changes.
4 · How much more
Much, a bit, more and more
Small words before the comparative say how big the difference is. Note that о́чень (very) is never used with a comparative; Russian uses гора́здо or намно́го instead.
5 · Superlatives
са́мый and three other ways to say “the most”
The everyday superlative is са́мый (the very, the most) + the adjective. Both words change their endings to match the noun in gender, number and case. Three more forms exist for writing, emphasis and fixed phrases.
са́мый changes with the noun
Case
Masculine
Feminine
Neuter
Plural
Nominative
Prepositional
Instrumental
са́мый + adj.Everyday, all styles
Agrees like any adjective.
-ейший / -айшийBookish, or “extremely”
Often means “very, very” rather than “the most”. After к, г, х: -айший (высоча́йший).
comparative + всех / всего́After a verb: of all
всех = than everyone; всего́ = than everything.
наибо́лее + adj.Formal writing
Reports, science and news. Never changes, like бо́лее.
6 · Four special adjectives
лу́чший, ху́дший, ста́рший, мла́дший
Four adjectives have their own full comparative forms that change like normal adjectives. They mean “better/best”, “worse/worst”, “older/eldest” and “younger/youngest”, and are used before nouns.