Comparison of Adverbs | Czech Grammar

Adverbs compare just like adjectives: there is a base form, a comparative ("more X"), and a superlative ("most X"). This page is the adverb-group home for the topic. The morphology is shared with adjective comparison and is treated in full there; here the focus is on what you actually need to say — the daily irregulars you cannot avoid, the colloquial-versus-formal split, and the syntax of putting a comparison into a sentence with než and čím… tím.

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For the side-by-side mechanics of building comparative adverbs from adjectives, see comparison of adverbs in the adjectives group. This page is the practical, sentence-level companion: which forms to memorise and how to wire them into a clause.

The pattern in one line

A regular adverb forms its comparative by replacing the adverbial -e/-ě with -eji / -ěji, and the superlative by prefixing nej- to the comparative.

Base	Comparative	Superlative	Meaning
rychle	rychleji	nejrychleji	fast → faster → fastest
krásně	krásněji	nejkrásněji	beautifully → more → most
pomalu	pomaleji	nejpomaleji	slowly → more → most
často	častěji	nejčastěji	often → more → most

Why two different comparative endings? It tracks the adjective the adverb comes from. Adjectives whose comparative is formed with -ejší/-ější give adverbs in -eji/-ěji (rychlý → rychlejší → rychle → rychleji), while a smaller, older group of adjectives forms its comparative with a bare -ší plus a stem softening, and those give adverbs in -e with the matching consonant change: drahý → dražší → draze → dráže/dráž. You do not have to predict which group a word falls into for every adverb you meet — the high-frequency ones are listed below — but knowing the two routes exist stops the irregular-looking forms from feeling random. The consonant changes (h → ž, k → č, ch → š, r → ř) are the same softening alternations that run all through Czech morphology, so they will already look familiar from noun and verb stems.

A small group, then, uses -e with a consonant change in the stem, and these often come with a clipped colloquial variant alongside the full one: draze → dráže / dráž ("expensively → more expensively"), snadno → snáz/snáze ("easily → more easily").

Mluv pomaleji, prosím, ještě tak dobře nerozumím.

Speak more slowly, please, I don't understand that well yet.

Tady bydlí dráž než na předměstí.

Here people live more expensively than in the suburbs.

The irregulars you cannot dodge

A handful of the most common adverbs compare irregularly. There is no way around them: they are the ones you reach for every single day, so the regular -eji shortcut simply does not apply. Learn this table cold.

Base	Comparative	Superlative	Meaning
dobře	lépe / líp	nejlépe / nejlíp	well → better → best
špatně	hůře / hůř	nejhůře / nejhůř	badly → worse → worst
hodně / moc	více / víc	nejvíce / nejvíc	a lot → more → most
málo	méně / míň	nejméně / nejmíň	little → less → least
brzy	dříve / dřív	nejdříve / nejdřív	early/soon → earlier → earliest
dlouho	déle	nejdéle	long → longer → longest
rád	radši / raději	nejradši / nejraději	gladly → rather → most of all

The biggest danger for English speakers is regularising these. Czech learners constantly invent forms like dobřeji or hodněji, exactly the way an English child says "gooder". They do not exist. Dobře goes to lépe/líp, full stop — the same suppletion English shows in "good → better".

Mluví anglicky líp než já.

He speaks English better than I do.

Dneska se cítím hůř než včera.

Today I feel worse than yesterday.

Měl bys jíst víc zeleniny a míň masa.

You should eat more vegetables and less meat.

The special case of rád

Rád ("gladly, with pleasure") is the adverb-like word behind "to like doing something" (rád čtu = "I like reading"). Its comparison gives you the everyday way to express preference: radši/raději = "rather, would prefer", and nejradši/nejraději = "most of all, would like best". This is one of the most useful comparative forms in the whole language.

Mám tě nejradši ze všech.

I love you most of all.

Radši zůstanu doma, venku je zima.

I'd rather stay home; it's cold out.

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radši / raději is how Czech says "I'd rather". It pairs naturally with the conditional for polite wishes — see polite requests with the conditional.

Short versus long: the register split

You will have noticed each irregular has two forms: a long one (lépe, více, dříve, raději) and a short, clipped one (líp, víc, dřív, radši). They mean exactly the same thing. The difference is register:

The short forms (líp, víc, dřív, hůř, radši) are (informal) — the default in speech and casual writing.
The long forms (lépe, více, dříve, hůře, raději) are (formal) — used in careful writing, official texts, and more elevated speech.

In a conversation, líp is normal and lépe can sound stiff. In a written report, lépe is expected and líp can look too casual. Neither is "wrong"; they are stylistic registers, and matching the register to the situation is part of sounding native.

Snažím se psát rukou míň, na počítači to jde rychleji.

I try to write by hand less; on a computer it goes faster.

Žák dosáhl výrazně lepších výsledků a učí se nyní lépe.

The pupil achieved markedly better results and now studies better.

Saying "than": než

To compare two things, Czech uses než ("than") followed by a phrase in the nominative (matching the thing compared) — exactly where English uses "than". Note that Czech keeps the proper subject case: líp než já ("better than I"), with the nominative já, not the object mě.

Běhá rychleji než já, ale plavu líp já.

He runs faster than I do, but I swim better.

Přišli jsme dřív než ostatní.

We arrived earlier than the others.

There is an alternative, more compact construction that drops než and instead puts the standard of comparison in the genitive — common with measures and in tighter prose. This genitive-of-comparison option is laid out on the než vs. genitive page; in everyday speech, než + nominative is the safe default.

"The more… the more": čím… tím

To link two comparatives in a "the X-er, the Y-er" relationship, Czech uses the fixed frame čím… tím + comparative. Čím takes the instrumental, tím the instrumental — but as a learner you can treat the whole čím… tím as a set phrase.

Čím dřív začneš, tím líp.

The sooner you start, the better.

Čím víc trénuju, tím rychleji běhám.

The more I train, the faster I run.

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čím… tím is the Czech "the more… the more". It is fully idiomatic with the short comparatives: čím víc, tím líp ("the more the better"). Both halves take the instrumental, but you can safely memorise čím… tím as a fixed frame.

The comparative used on its own

A comparative adverb does not always need an explicit "than" partner. Czech very often uses a bare comparative to mean "rather, somewhat, a bit more" — the standard of comparison is left implicit, recovered from context. Mluv hlasitěji is not "speak more loudly than X"; it just means "speak up a bit". Přijď dřív means "come a bit earlier (than planned)". This standalone comparative is everywhere in spoken Czech and is one of the gentler, more polite ways to make a request, because it asks for an adjustment rather than issuing a flat command.

Mohl bys mluvit trochu pomaleji?

Could you speak a bit more slowly?

Příště přijď dřív, ať to stihneme.

Next time come earlier so we make it.

The word trochu ("a bit") pairs naturally with such comparatives to soften them further, and mnohem / o hodně ("much, by a lot") strengthens them: mnohem líp ("much better"), o hodně dřív ("a lot earlier"). These intensifiers attach to the comparative the same way English "much" attaches to "better".

Po dovolené se cítím mnohem líp.

After the holiday I feel much better.

"As X as possible": co nej-

To say "as fast as possible", Czech stacks co in front of the superlative: co nejrychleji. This is extremely common and very natural.

Přijď co nejdřív, čekáme na tebe.

Come as soon as possible, we're waiting for you.

Snaž se to udělat co nejlíp.

Try to do it as well as you can.

Common mistakes

❌ Mluví anglicky dobřeji než já.

Incorrect — dobře is irregular; the comparative is lépe/líp, never dobřeji.

✅ Mluví anglicky líp než já.

He speaks English better than I do.

❌ Měl bys jíst hodněji ovoce.

Incorrect — hodně is irregular; the comparative is více/víc.

✅ Měl bys jíst víc ovoce.

You should eat more fruit.

❌ Běhá rychleji než mě.

Incorrect — než takes the nominative subject form já, not the object mě.

✅ Běhá rychleji než já.

He runs faster than I do.

❌ Čím dřív začneš, dřív skončíš.

Incorrect — the second half of the frame needs tím before the comparative.

✅ Čím dřív začneš, tím dřív skončíš.

The sooner you start, the sooner you finish.

❌ Přijď co rychle.

Incorrect — co nej- requires the superlative, not the base adverb.

✅ Přijď co nejrychleji.

Come as quickly as possible.

Key takeaways

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Memorise the seven irregulars (dobře, špatně, hodně, málo, brzy, dlouho, rád), pick the register-appropriate short or long form, and wire the comparison in with než + nominative. That covers almost everything you'll ever say.

For the full morphological breakdown shared with adjectives, see comparison of adverbs (adjectives group) and the irregular comparatives; for how plain adverbs are built in the first place, see adverbs from adjectives.

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