niż vs od: Two Ways to Say 'Than' | Polish Grammar

English has exactly one word for comparisons: than. Polish offers two — niż and od — and they're built on completely different grammar. niż is a comparison particle: whatever follows takes the same case as the first term, like a mirror. od is a preposition: whatever follows must go into the genitive. They overlap for simple noun comparisons (both wyższy niż brat and wyższy od brata mean "taller than my brother"), but only niż works once the second term is a clause, a number, or sits in a case that od can't supply.

The core rule

	niż	od
What it is	comparison particle	preposition
Case of what follows	same case as the first term	always genitive
Best for	clauses, numbers, anything not a plain noun	a single noun or pronoun (compact, spoken)

Both attach to a comparative form (wyższy "taller", lepszy "better", więcej "more") — see forming the comparative.

od + genitive — the compact, everyday "than"

For a simple comparison of two nouns or pronouns, od + genitive is shorter and extremely common in speech. The thing you compare against goes into the genitive.

Mój brat jest wyższy ode mnie.

My brother is taller than me.

Ania jest starsza od swojej siostry.

Ania is older than her sister.

Ta kawa jest mocniejsza od tamtej.

This coffee is stronger than that one.

Notice the genitive doing its work: brat → od brata, siostra → od siostry, tamta → od tamtej, and the pronoun ja → ode mnie (with the buffer -e on od before mnie). If you forget that od forces the genitive and leave the noun in the nominative, the sentence breaks — this is the single most common slip with od.

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od is the genitive of comparison. It only ever takes one short thing — a noun or pronoun — and pulls it straight into the genitive. ode mnie, od ciebie, od niej, od nich: learn these pronoun forms as a set, because they come up constantly.

See the genitive of comparison for the full set of forms.

niż + same case — the flexible "than"

niż doesn't impose a case of its own. Instead, the second term copies the case of the first. If the first term is a nominative subject, the second term is nominative too:

Mój brat jest wyższy niż ja.

My brother is taller than I am.

Ten film był lepszy, niż się spodziewałem.

This film was better than I expected.

If the first term is an accusative object, the second term is accusative as well:

Lubię herbatę bardziej niż kawę.

I like tea more than coffee.

Here herbatę and kawę are both accusative (objects of lubię), so niż mirrors the accusative. With od you'd have to switch the second noun into the genitive — and many speakers find niż clearer when both items are objects.

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niż is a mirror. Look at the case of the first thing in the comparison, and put the second thing in the same case. That's why "I like tea more than coffee" keeps both nouns in the accusative — kawę, not the genitive kawy.

Where only niż works

This is the heart of the decision. od + genitive can only swallow a single noun or pronoun. The moment the second term is something else, you need niż.

A whole clause — there's nothing for the genitive to land on:

To trudniejsze, niż myślałem.

It's harder than I thought.

Zarabia więcej, niż wydaje.

He earns more than he spends.

A number — więcej niż pięć (more than five), not więcej od pięciu in this counting sense:

Czekaliśmy więcej niż godzinę.

We waited more than an hour.

Przyszło więcej niż pięćdziesiąt osób.

More than fifty people showed up.

An adverb or a different kind of phrase — e.g. comparing to "yesterday":

Dzisiaj czuję się lepiej niż wczoraj.

Today I feel better than yesterday.

You cannot say lepiej od wczoraj — wczoraj is an adverb, not a noun in the genitive, so od has nothing to govern.

A decision flowchart

Is the second term a single noun or pronoun?
- Yes → either works; od + genitive is the compact, idiomatic choice (starszy ode mnie). Just remember od demands the genitive.
- No → use niż.
Is the second term a clause ("than I thought"), a number ("than five"), or an adverb ("than yesterday")? → niż is the only option.
Are both terms objects in the same case (e.g. accusative)? → niż keeps them parallel (niż kawę); it's usually the clearer choice.

Common Mistakes

❌ Mój brat jest wyższy od ja.

Incorrect — od requires the genitive pronoun, not the nominative.

✅ Mój brat jest wyższy ode mnie.

My brother is taller than me.

❌ Ania jest starsza od swoja siostra.

Incorrect — od forces the genitive on the whole phrase.

✅ Ania jest starsza od swojej siostry.

Ania is older than her sister.

❌ To było trudniejsze od myślałem.

Incorrect — od can't govern a clause; use niż.

✅ To było trudniejsze, niż myślałem.

It was harder than I thought.

❌ Czekaliśmy więcej od godziny. (meaning 'more than an hour')

Incorrect in the counting sense — use niż with a number.

✅ Czekaliśmy więcej niż godzinę.

We waited more than an hour.

❌ Lubię herbatę bardziej niż kawy.

Incorrect — niż mirrors the first term's case; both are accusative objects here.

✅ Lubię herbatę bardziej niż kawę.

I like tea more than coffee.

Key Takeaways

niż is a particle that mirrors the case of the first term; od is a preposition that forces the genitive.
For a single noun or pronoun, both work, and od + genitive is the compact, idiomatic default (starszy ode mnie) — but it always pulls the genitive (od brata, od siostry, ode mnie).
Use niż whenever the second term is a clause (niż myślałem), a number (niż pięć), an adverb (niż wczoraj), or another object you want to keep in the same case (niż kawę).
Defaulting to niż everywhere is understandable and never ungrammatical, but it sounds less natural than od for plain noun comparisons — and forgetting that od demands the genitive is the most common error.

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