To say "X is more Y" Russian offers two routes, and the trick is knowing which to take. The simple (synthetic) comparative turns the adjective into a single, indeclinable word ending in -ее: краси́вый → краси́вее ("more beautiful"). It never changes for gender, number, or case — one shape forever — and it works as a predicate (Э́та доро́га краси́вее, "this road is more beautiful") and as an adverb (Он бежи́т быстре́е, "he runs faster"). The compound comparative keeps the adjective whole and puts бо́лее ("more") in front: бо́лее краси́вый — and this version does decline, so it's the one you use before a noun. English has the same split (prettier vs more beautiful), but it's governed by syllable count; in Russian the split is governed by grammatical position.
The simple comparative: indeclinable -ее
For most adjectives, replace the ending with -ее (colloquially often shortened to -ей). The stress usually shifts onto the first -е- in short, common adjectives:
| Adjective | Comparative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| краси́вый | краси́вее | more beautiful |
| интере́сный | интере́снее | more interesting |
| бы́стрый | быстре́е | faster |
| тёплый | тепле́е | warmer |
| у́мный | умне́е | cleverer |
| сло́жный | сложне́е | more difficult |
This one word is all you need — there is no separate masculine/feminine/plural form. Э́тот фильм интере́снее ("this film is more interesting"), Э́та кни́га интере́снее ("this book is more interesting"), Э́ти кни́ги интере́снее ("these books are more interesting") — краси́вее and интере́снее never budge.
Сего́дня тепле́е, чем вчера́.
It's warmer today than yesterday. — тепле́е is fixed; it doesn't agree with anything.
Метро́ быстре́е и удо́бнее, чем авто́бус.
The metro is faster and more convenient than the bus. — two simple comparatives, both indeclinable.
The irregular comparatives
A small, high-frequency group forms its comparative irregularly — often with a consonant change (г→ж, д→ж, к→ч, т→ч, ст→щ). These are the ones you hear constantly, so learn them as vocabulary:
| Adjective / adverb | Comparative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| хоро́ший | лу́чше | better |
| плохо́й | ху́же | worse |
| большо́й / мно́го | бо́льше | bigger / more |
| ма́ленький / ма́ло | ме́ньше | smaller / less |
| ста́рый | ста́рше | older |
| молодо́й | моло́же | younger |
| дорого́й | доро́же | more expensive |
| дешёвый | деше́вле | cheaper |
| высо́кий | вы́ше | higher / taller |
| ни́зкий | ни́же | lower |
| далёкий / далеко́ | да́льше | further |
| ча́стый / ча́сто | ча́ще | more often |
| ра́нний / ра́но | ра́ньше | earlier |
| по́здний / по́здно | по́зже | later |
These are covered in more depth on irregular comparatives.
По́езд деше́вле, но самолёт быстре́е.
The train is cheaper, but the plane is faster. — irregular деше́вле alongside regular быстре́е.
Моя́ сестра́ ста́рше меня́ на три го́да.
My sister is three years older than me. — irregular ста́рше + genitive меня́.
The compound comparative: бо́лее + adjective
When you need the comparative in front of a noun — modifying it, agreeing in case — the simple form can't do the job, because it's frozen. Use бо́лее ("more") plus the ordinary, fully declining long adjective:
Нам ну́жен бо́лее о́пытный специали́ст.
We need a more experienced specialist. — attributive: бо́лее + the declining adjective о́пытный.
Они́ перее́хали в бо́лее ти́хий райо́н.
They moved to a quieter neighbourhood. — accusative райо́н, with бо́лее + ти́хий still declining normally.
There is a parallel ме́нее ("less") for the downward direction: ме́нее интере́сный ("less interesting"). The bare adjective after бо́лее/ме́нее keeps every normal ending; бо́лее and ме́нее themselves never change.
Saying "than": two constructions
Russian has two equivalents of English "than," and they're interchangeable in most contexts.
1. Comparative + genitive. Drop "than" entirely and put the thing compared into the genitive. This is the tighter, more idiomatic option, but it only works when the comparison is to a simple noun or pronoun:
Он вы́ше бра́та.
He's taller than his brother. — вы́ше + genitive бра́та, no word for 'than'.
Москва́ бо́льше Петербу́рга.
Moscow is bigger than Petersburg. — бо́льше + genitive Петербу́рга.
2. Comparative + чем + nominative. Use чем ("than") and leave the second item in the same case as the first (usually nominative). This is obligatory when the two things compared are in a non-nominative case, or when you compare clauses, and it's always available as a safe default:
Он ста́рше, чем я.
He's older than I am. — чем + nominative я; note the comma before чем.
В дере́вне жить деше́вле, чем в го́роде.
Living in the countryside is cheaper than in the city. — чем is required here because both items are in the prepositional (в дере́вне / в го́роде).
The genitive construction is impossible in that last example — you can't say *деше́вле го́рода to mean "cheaper than [living] in the city," because the comparison is to a prepositional phrase. When in doubt, чем always works.
"Much more" and "the more… the more"
To intensify a comparative ("much bigger," "far cheaper"), put намно́го or гора́здо ("much, far") in front. To weaken it ("a bit bigger"), use немно́го or the prefix по- (побо́льше, "a bit more"):
Э́та маши́на намно́го доро́же.
This car is much more expensive. — намно́го intensifies the comparative доро́же.
Сде́лай, пожа́луйста, чуть поти́ше.
Make it a little quieter, please. — the prefix по- on a comparative softens it to 'a bit'.
For the proportional "the more…, the more…," Russian uses the paired чем… тем… with a comparative in each clause:
Чем бо́льше я учу́сь, тем ме́ньше я зна́ю.
The more I study, the less I know. — чем + comparative … тем + comparative.
Common Mistakes
❌ Э́та кни́га бо́лее интере́снее.
Incorrect — a double comparative. Use either the simple интере́снее or бо́лее интере́сная, never both.
✅ Э́та кни́га интере́снее.
This book is more interesting.
❌ Он ста́рше чем меня́.
Incorrect — mixing the two 'than' constructions. Either ста́рше меня́ (genitive) or ста́рше, чем я (чем + nominative).
✅ Он ста́рше меня́.
He's older than me.
❌ Нам ну́жен интере́снее специали́ст.
Incorrect — the simple comparative can't stand before a noun. Use бо́лее о́пытный / бо́лее квалифици́рованный specialist.
✅ Нам ну́жен бо́лее о́пытный специали́ст.
We need a more experienced specialist.
❌ Москва́ бо́льше чем Петербу́рг краси́вее.
Incorrect, jumbled — say Москва́ бо́льше Петербу́рга, and keep one comparison per clause.
✅ Москва́ бо́льше Петербу́рга.
Moscow is bigger than Petersburg.
Key Takeaways
- The simple comparative ends in -ее/-ей (краси́вее, быстре́е), is indeclinable, and serves as predicate or adverb.
- A closed set of irregulars must be memorised: лу́чше, ху́же, бо́льше, ме́ньше, ста́рше, моло́же, доро́же, деше́вле, вы́ше, ни́же, да́льше, ча́ще, ра́ньше, по́зже.
- The compound comparative бо́лее + long adjective (бо́лее интере́сный) is the one used attributively, before a noun.
- "Than" = comparative + genitive (ста́рше меня́) or comparative + чем + nominative (ста́рше, чем я); use чем whenever the items aren't in the nominative.
- намно́го / гора́здо
- comparative = "much more"; чем… тем… = "the more…, the more…".
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- The SuperlativeB1 — The everyday Russian superlative is са́мый + a long adjective, where BOTH words agree and decline (са́мый большо́й дом, в са́мом ва́жном вопро́се). A bookish synthetic superlative in -ейший/-айший (краси́вейший, велича́йший, ближа́йший) means 'a most…/an extremely…' rather than 'the single most'. For predicates, Russian prefers a comparative + всех/всего́ (Он у́мнее всех; Э́то ва́жнее всего́). A few adjectives have one-word irregular superlatives — лу́чший, ху́дший, ста́рший, мла́дший, вы́сший, ни́зший — and formal register uses наибо́лее/наиме́нее + adjective.
- Irregular Comparatives and SuperlativesB1 — A reference list of the high-frequency Russian comparatives that don't follow the regular -ее pattern. Some are suppletive (хоро́ший → лу́чше 'better', плохо́й → ху́же 'worse'), many show a consonant mutation before -е (до́рого → доро́же, лёгкий → ле́гче, ти́хий → ти́ше), and a few split by meaning (ста́рше for people vs старе́е for things). It also covers the suppletive 'superlative' adjectives лу́чший, ху́дший, ста́рший, мла́дший. These are simple comparatives (one indeclinable word) — for how to build comparatives and superlatives generally, see the dedicated pages.
- Genitive in ComparisonsB1 — After a bare comparative, Russian marks the standard of comparison ('than X') with the genitive: Он ста́рше бра́та (older than his brother), Москва́ бо́льше Петербу́рга (bigger than Petersburg). This is the compact, idiomatic alternative to чем + nominative (ста́рше, чем брат). The genitive only works when 'than X' is a single noun or pronoun; for clauses, mixed cases, or comparing whole situations you must use чем (Лу́чше по́здно, чем никогда́). Superlative-of phrases reuse the same genitive: лу́чше всех, бо́льше всего́.
- Short-Form AdjectivesB1 — Russian adjectives have a second, predicate-only form — the short form — that marks only gender and number, never case. Masculine takes a bare stem (за́нят, здоро́в, ра́д), feminine -а (занята́, больна́), neuter -о (за́нято, закры́то), plural -ы/-и (за́няты, закры́ты). Short forms appear after the zero copula (Он за́нят; Дверь закры́та; Я гото́в) and often express a TEMPORARY state, against the long form's permanent/categorizing meaning: Он бо́лен ('he's ill right now') vs Он больно́й ('he's sickly'). A few adjectives — рад, до́лжен, согла́сен, нужен, гото́в — live mainly or only in the short form. Short forms cannot be used attributively.