Заплатити карткою зручніше, ніж готівкою.

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Breakdown of Заплатити карткою зручніше, ніж готівкою.

• карткою: by card
• готівкою: in cash
• заплатити: to pay

Questions & Answers about Заплатити карткою зручніше, ніж готівкою.

Why are the words карткою and готівкою in those forms? What case is that?

They’re in the instrumental case singular. Ukrainian often uses the instrumental without a preposition to express “by means of/with.” So:

• картка → карткою “with/by (a) card”
• готівка → готівкою “with/in cash” This answers the question “чим?” (with what?).

Could I say платити instead of заплатити? What’s the difference?

Yes.

• платити (imperfective) focuses on the process or a general habit: Платити карткою зручніше…
• заплатити (perfective) focuses on a single completed act: Заплатити карткою зручніше…
  In general comparisons like this, both are acceptable; many speakers prefer the imperfective for “in general,” but the perfective is common and natural too.

Why is it зручніше and not зручніший?

• зручніше is the comparative adverb/predicative (“more convenient”/“it’s more convenient”) used with an infinitive construction: Заплатити … зручніше.
• зручніший is the comparative adjective (“more convenient” modifying a noun). If you use a noun as the subject, you would say: Оплата карткою зручніша, ніж готівкою.

Why is there a comma before ніж?

In Ukrainian, a comma is standard before the comparative conjunction ніж when introducing the thing you compare to, especially after a comparative form like : .