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Questions & Answers about Чай с мёдом слаще чая без мёда.
Why is с мёдом in the instrumental case but без мёда in the genitive?
Because in Russian different prepositions govern different cases:
- с (“with”) always takes the instrumental, so мёд → мёдом.
- без (“without”) always takes the genitive, so мёд → мёда.
Why don’t we use чем (“than”) and a comma before чая без мёда?
Russian comparatives have two forms:
1) With чем + nominative, e.g. слаще, чем чай без мёда (requires a comma).
2) By omitting чем and putting the second term in the genitive, e.g. слаще чая без мёда (no comma).
The sentence uses the second, shorter pattern.
How is слаще formed from сладкий, and why not сладнее?
Сладкий has an irregular comparative: its root changes слад- → слащ- plus -е → слаще.
Сладнее is not the standard comparative for сладкий (though you might hear dialectal сладче, the literary form is слаще).
Why is there no article before чай (like “the” or “a”)?
Russian doesn’t have definite or indefinite articles. Nouns simply appear without “a,” “an,” or “the.”
Can I instead say Чай с мёдом более сладкий, чем чай без мёда?
Yes, you can use the structure более + adjective + чем to form comparatives. It’s correct but slightly heavier; for сладкий, most speakers prefer the concise слаще.
Why is мёд spelled with ё, and why do I sometimes see мед without the dots?
The correct spelling is мёд (ё indicates /jo/). In real texts, publishers often omit the two dots and print мед, but you still pronounce it [mʲot].
Could I drop the second чая and just say Чай с мёдом слаще без мёда?
In casual speech you might omit чая because context makes it clear you’re still talking about tea. In written or formal style it’s more polished to include чая for clarity.
Is the word order fixed, or could I say Слаще чая без мёда чай с мёдом?
Russian word order is relatively flexible, but the given order—subject (чай с мёдом), predicate (слаще), object/comparison (чая без мёда)—is the most natural. Moving слаще to the front is grammatically possible but sounds marked or poetic.