Breakdown of Этот человек — более надёжный партнёр, чем мой бывший менеджер.
человек
person
мой
my / mine
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
партнёр
partner
Questions & Answers about Этот человек — более надёжный партнёр, чем мой бывший менеджер.
Why is мой бывший менеджер in the nominative case instead of the genitive case?
When you compare things using the word чем (than), the second part of the comparison takes the same case as the first part. Since the subject Этот человек is in the nominative case, мой бывший менеджер stays in the nominative case too.
Why is there a dash (—) after Этот человек?
The dash acts like the English verb is. Russian usually drops the present tense of the verb to be. When you link a subject noun directly to another noun (like saying a person is a partner), a dash is used to connect them.
Why do we use более надёжный instead of the shorter comparative form надёжнее?
Russian has two ways to make comparisons: adding a suffix like in надёжнее or using более meaning more before the standard adjective. Because the adjective here directly describes the noun right next to it (надёжный партнёр), you must use the более form. The shorter form is usually used as a standalone predicate, without a noun attached to it.
Does the word бывший work like a normal adjective?
Yes. It originally comes from the past tense of the verb to be, but it is used as a standard adjective meaning former or ex. Here it matches менеджер in gender, number, and case, making it masculine, singular, and nominative.