Learn Hardcore Ukrainian: Водій був обережнішим, ніж пасажири очікували. - The driver was more careful than the passengers expected.

обережнішим is the comparative form of the adjective обережний (meaning “cautious”). It indicates that the driver exhibited a higher degree of caution than some reference point—in this case, what the passengers expected. The adjective is modified by its ending to form the comparative, much like “more cautious” in English.

What role does the word ніж play in this sentence?

ніж functions as a comparative conjunction and is equivalent to “than” in English. It introduces the clause that provides the standard of comparison—in this sentence, it connects the comparison between the driver’s level of caution and what the passengers expected.

How is the clause пасажири очікували structured, and why doesn’t it include a relative pronoun like “that” or “who”?

The clause пасажири очікували serves as a subordinate clause detailing the expectation used for comparison. In Ukrainian, it is common to omit relative pronouns in such constructions because the meaning remains clear without them. The subject пасажири (passengers) directly performs the action очікували (expected), making additional connectors unnecessary.

Why is the verb очікували in the past tense?

The entire sentence describes past events. The main clause uses був (was) to set the past context, so the subordinate clause also uses the past tense очікували (expected) to maintain temporal consistency throughout the sentence.

How does the absence of articles in Ukrainian affect nouns like водій and пасажири in this sentence?

Ukrainian doesn’t use articles (such as “the” or “a”), so nouns like водій (driver) and пасажири (passengers) appear without them. Learners must rely on context to interpret definiteness or indefiniteness. Although English uses articles to signal these distinctions, the clear context in Ukrainian makes the meaning evident even without them.

How does the word order contribute to the meaning of the sentence?

While Ukrainian allows for flexible word order, the structure here is clear and methodical. The sentence starts with the subject водій, followed by the verb був and then the comparative adjective обережнішим, which sets up the main idea. The comparative conjunction ніж introduces the subordinate clause that specifies what standard is being exceeded (what the passengers expected). Keeping this order ensures that the comparison is unambiguous.