Serbian 301 — bolji, veći, skuplji. Three ways to say "more", and only one of them is predictable.
English has it easy: add -er, or put more in front. Serbian sorts its adjectives into three groups instead, and you have to know which group a word belongs to before you can compare anything.
| Group | How | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -iji | the default, no sound change | jeftin → jeftiniji, čist → čistiji |
| -ji | fuses with the last consonant | visok → viši, nizak → niži, skup → skuplji |
| nepravilni | learn them one by one | dobar → bolji, loš → gori |
That middle row is where the interesting things happen. The j doesn't sit politely next to the consonant — it merges with it: s + j → š, z + j → ž, and after p, b, v, m an l appears out of nowhere (skup → skuplji).
Watch the disappearing a too. Dosadan and bezbedan lose it before the ending: dosadniji, bezbedniji. So does nizak on its way to niži.
And the comparative is still an adjective, so it agrees: viši brat but viša sestra.
1. dobar →
2. loš →
3. velik →
4. velika →
5. mala →
6. puno → (more)
7. malo → (less)
1. jeftin →
2. čist →
3. dosadan →
4. bezbedan →
1. visok →
2. visoka →
3. nizak →
4. niska →
5. skup →
6. skupa →
SR (lat): Upiši komparativ u istom rodu kao zadata reč. Nije osetljivo na velika/mala slova, i može latinicom ili ćirilicom; dijakritici su opcioni.
СР (ћир): Упиши компаратив у истом роду као задата реч. Није осетљиво на велика/мала слова, и може латиницом или ћирилицом; дијакритици су опциони.
EN: Give the comparative in the same gender as the prompt. Not case-sensitive; Latin or Cyrillic both fine, diacritics optional.
Igra, pa upotreba
Ista gramatika, drugo raspoloženje — Snowball: Comparative & Superlative.
All three degrees next — and the superlative turns out to be the easy part.
Next: Komparativ i Superlativ →