Breakdown of Trešnja je manja nego breskva.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
mali
small
nego
than
breskva
peach
trešnja
cherry
Questions & Answers about Trešnja je manja nego breskva.
Why does breskva stay in the nominative case here after nego?
When you use nego (than) for comparison, the word that follows it takes the same grammatical case as the thing being compared. Since trešnja is in the nominative as the subject of the sentence, breskva must also be in the nominative.
How would this sentence change if I used od instead of nego?
If you use od to mean 'than', the noun that follows it must take the genitive case. The sentence would become Trešnja je manja od breskve. Both structures are extremely common and completely interchangeable when comparing two nouns like this.
Are there situations where I am forced to use nego instead of od?
Yes. While you can use either nego or od when comparing nouns, you must use nego when comparing verbs, adverbs, or entire clauses. For example, you have to say Više volim spavati nego raditi (I prefer sleeping to working). You cannot use od in that context.
What is the base adjective for manja, and are there other common irregular comparatives I should remember?
The base adjective is mali (small). It is one of the few core adjectives in Croatian with a completely irregular comparative form, changing its stem to manj-. As a reminder, you should keep this grouped with the other major irregulars: veliki (big) becomes veći, dobar (good) becomes bolji, and loš (bad) becomes gori.
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