Irregular Comparative Adjectives
Just like in English (where "good" becomes "better"), the most common Polish adjectives have completely irregular comparative forms. Memorize these four essential pairs:
| Base Adjective | Meaning | Comparative | Meaning |
|---|
| dobry | good | lepszy | better |
| zły | bad | gorszy | worse |
| duży | big | większy | bigger |
| mały | small | mniejszy | smaller |
These irregular comparatives still act like normal adjectives. They take standard endings to agree with the noun's gender, number, and case (for example, lepszy for masculine, lepsza for feminine, lepsze for neuter).
You can use the word niż (than) to compare two things directly.
Irregular Comparative Adverbs
Adverbs, which describe verbs (like working well or feeling badly), also have irregular comparative forms.
| Base Adverb | Meaning | Comparative | Meaning |
|---|
| dobrze | well | lepiej | better |
| źle | badly | gorzej | worse |
| dużo | a lot | więcej | more |
| mało | a little | mniej | less |
Notice that the adverbs do not change for gender or number, making them very straightforward to use.
Be careful with the adverb źle (badly). Here it is in its base form:
And here it is as the comparative gorzej (worse):
For quantities and amounts, use więcej (more) and mniej (less).
Expressing "More and More" with Coraz
To show that a quality is continuously increasing (like saying "better and better" or "more and more" in English), place the word coraz immediately before the comparative adjective or adverb.