Он говорит тише, чем обычно.

to speak

Breakdown of Он говорит тише, чем обычно.

• он: he
• чем: than
• обычно: usually

Questions & Answers about Он говорит тише, чем обычно.

What exactly does говорит mean here? Is it “speaks” or “is speaking”?

In Russian, говорит (3rd person singular of говорить) can mean both:

• He speaks (a general habit)
• He is speaking (right now)

Russian normally does not distinguish between simple present and present continuous the way English does. Context tells you whether it’s about a current action or a general tendency.

What is тише? Is it an adjective or an adverb, and what is the base form?

Тише is the comparative form of the adverb тихо (quietly).

• Base adverb: тихо = quietly
• Comparative adverb: тише = more quietly

It is historically related to the adjective тихий (quiet), but in this sentence тише is functioning as an adverb describing how he speaks.

Why is it тише and not something like более тихо for “more quietly”?

Russian has many short, synthetic comparative forms like тише, громче, лучше, хуже, etc. These are the normal, natural way to compare.

You can say более тихо, and it’s grammatically correct, but here it sounds more bookish or unnatural in everyday speech. Он говорит тише is the default, idiomatic choice.