Degrees of Comparison of Russian Adjectives

In Russian, adjectives have three degrees of comparison:

• Positive Degree (обычная форма) – the basic form of the adjective.
  • Example: красивый (beautiful), быстрый (fast)
• Comparative Degree (сравнительная степень) – used to compare two things.
  • Simple form: adjective + -ее / -ей / -е
    • красивее (more beautiful)
    • быстрее (faster)
  • Compound form: более / менее + adjective
    • более красивый (more beautiful)
    • менее быстрый (less fast)
• Superlative Degree (превосходная степень) – expresses the highest degree.
  • Simple form: -ейший / -айший (rare, mostly in formal/literary speech)
    • красивейший (the most beautiful)
  • Compound form: самый + adjective / наиболее + adjective
    • самый красивый (the most beautiful)
    • наиболее быстрый (the fastest)

Examples in Sentences:

• Положительная степень: Этот дом большой. (This house is big.)
• Сравнительная степень: Этот дом больше того. (This house is bigger than that one.)
• Превосходная степень: Это самый большой дом. (This is the biggest house.)

Tip:

• The compound forms (using более for comparative and самый for superlative) are often easier to use when you're starting, as you just add a word and use the basic adjective.
• Remember that the simple comparative (like красивее) does not change for gender or number. This is unique!
• Memorize the irregular forms for "good," "bad," "big," and "small"—they are very common

If an adjective has a supplicative (with the addition of an affix) form of comparison, you can always find it on PROMT.One Conjugator.