Breakdown of Эта дорога длиннее, чем наша улица.
Questions & Answers about Эта дорога длиннее, чем наша улица.
In Russian, demonstratives agree with the gender of the noun:
- эта – feminine singular (for feminine nouns)
- это – neuter singular (for neuter nouns)
- этот – masculine singular (for masculine nouns)
The noun дорога is feminine (it ends in -а and is grammatically feminine), so you must say эта дорога = this road.
If the noun were neuter, like место (place), you would say это место.
Длиннее is the comparative form of the adjective длинный (long).
- длинная дорога – a long road
- длиннее дорога or дорога длиннее – the road is longer
In English, you add -er or use more; in Russian, many common adjectives have a special comparative form with -ее / -е:
- длинный → длиннее (long → longer)
- красивый → красивее (beautiful → more beautiful / prettier)
So Эта дорога длиннее literally is This road is longer.
You can say эта дорога более длинная, чем наша улица, and it is grammatically correct, but:
- For simple, common adjectives like длинный, the short comparative (длиннее) is more natural and common.
- более длинная sounds more formal, heavy, or stylistic, and in everyday speech people usually prefer длиннее.
So both are understandable, but Эта дорога длиннее, чем наша улица is the usual choice.
In this sentence, чем introduces a comparison clause (a separate comparative part of the sentence), so a comma is used:
- Эта дорога длиннее, чем наша улица.
In many cases with the construction … сравнительная форма + чем …, a comma is standard and recommended in writing. However, in modern Russian, sometimes the comma can be omitted in short or very fixed expressions, especially in informal text, but your example is classic and correct with the comma.
For learning purposes, it’s safest to keep the comma before чем when you have a clear comparative clause:
- Он старше, чем его брат. – He is older than his brother.
You don’t have to use чем. Russian allows two main patterns:
With чем and nominative:
- Эта дорога длиннее, чем наша улица.
Without чем, using genitive after the comparative:
- Эта дорога длиннее нашей улицы.
Both are correct and normal. Subtle style differences:
- The чем + nominative pattern is very clear and often feels slightly more explicit or conversational.
- The genitive without чем pattern is also very common and slightly more compact: длиннее нашей улицы.
As a learner, you can safely use the чем construction; it’s very transparent and easy to understand.
After чем in this construction, улица stays in the nominative case:
- Эта дорога длиннее, чем наша улица.
If you remove чем, the case changes:
- Эта дорога длиннее нашей улицы. – Here улицы is genitive singular.
So:
- With чем → наша улица (nominative)
- Without чем → нашей улицы (genitive)
The possessive pronoun must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case:
- улица is feminine singular, nominative.
- The correct form of наш for feminine singular, nominative is наша.
So we get:
- наш дом (masculine) – our house
- наша улица (feminine) – our street
- наше окно (neuter) – our window
- наши дома / улицы / окна (plural) – our houses / streets / windows
They are related, but not the same:
- улица – typically a street in a town or city: has buildings, houses, addresses.
- наша улица – our street (where we live)
- дорога – a road, more general: can be a road between cities, a path, a route, or even metaphorical “way/journey”.
- длинная дорога – a long road (e.g., between two towns)
In your sentence, эта дорога could be, for example, a highway or route, and you’re comparing its length to наша улица, the street where you live.
No — the short comparative form длиннее is invariable; it does not change for gender, number, or case.
Compare:
Positive adjective:
- длинный дом (masc.)
- длинная дорога (fem.)
- длинное письмо (neut.)
- длинные дороги (plural)
Comparative длиннее with different subjects:
- Дом длиннее, чем улица.
- Дорога длиннее, чем улица.
- Письмо длиннее, чем вчера.
- Эти улицы длиннее, чем те.
In all these sentences, длиннее stays the same.
Pronunciation (roughly in English terms): длиннее = dlee-NYE-eh.
Details:
- Stress is on the second syllable from the end: длинНЕЕ.
- The нн is pronounced as a long / double n sound; in normal speech, it just sounds like a single but slightly lengthened н.
The spelling with нн comes from the base длинн- (two н) + comparative ending -ее. That’s why you see длиннее, not длинее.
Russian allows some flexibility in word order, but not all permutations sound natural:
- Эта дорога длиннее, чем наша улица. – completely natural.
- Эта дорога, чем наша улица, длиннее. – sounds unnatural and wrong.
- Эта дорога длиннее нашей улицы. – also natural (alternative structure).
- Дорога эта длиннее, чем наша улица. – possible, but marked; it emphasizes эта (this specific road).
Putting длиннее before эта дорога (Длиннее эта дорога, чем наша улица) is poetic or very emphatic and not typical in everyday speech.
For normal usage, keep: Эта дорога длиннее, чем наша улица.
You can say Эта дорога длиннее, чем улица, but it sounds incomplete or vague, like This road is longer than a street (some street in general).
- наша улица specifies which street (our street), making the comparison clear and natural.
- Without наша, it’s grammatical but less natural in context, unless you are talking about a hypothetical or generic street.
So for a normal, specific comparison, чем наша улица is better.
Some common adjectives have a simple comparative form like длиннее:
- короткий → короче (short → shorter)
- Эта дорога короче, чем наша улица. – This road is shorter than our street.
- широкий → шире (wide → wider)
- Эта дорога шире, чем наша улица. – This road is wider than our street.
Many adjectives follow the pattern -кий → -че (короткий → короче, лёгкий → легче, мягкий → мягче) or add -ее / -е (красивый → красивее).
When in doubt, you can often use более + adjective (e.g. более широкий) but the short comparative (шире) is usually more natural.