Breakdown of Наша Вселенная больше, чем мы думаем.
мы
we
большой
big
наш
our (наш, наша, наше)
думать
to think
чем
than / the (in comparisons)
вселенная
universe
Questions & Answers about Наша Вселенная больше, чем мы думаем.
Is the word Вселенная related to the pronoun весь (all/everything) from this lesson?
Yes! The word Вселенная (universe) shares the same root as весь and всё. Historically, it comes from a verb meaning 'to settle' or 'inhabit', so it literally means 'the entirely inhabited world' or simply 'the everything'.
Вселенная looks like an adjective ending in -ая. Is it an adjective or a noun?
It is a noun, but it behaves exactly like an adjective. Words like this are called 'substantivized adjectives' (adjectives acting as nouns). Because it has a feminine adjective ending, it pairs with the feminine word for 'our' (наша) and will change its endings just like a regular feminine adjective when used in other grammatical cases.
We learned that you can sometimes just use the Genitive case to say 'than'. Why do we use чем here?
You can use the Genitive case for 'than' when you are comparing a noun to another noun (for example, 'bigger than a house'). However, when the second part of the comparison is a full phrase with its own verb—like мы думаем (we think)—you must use чем (than).
Why is there a comma before чем?
Russian punctuation rules are very strict about separating clauses (parts of a sentence that have their own subject and verb). You must always place a comma before чем when it is used to mean 'than' in a comparison.
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