Breakdown of Внимательность намного важнее, когда ты читаешь длинное предложение.
ты
you (singular)
читать
to read
важный
important
когда
when
длинный
long
намного
much, by far
внимательность
attentiveness
предложение
sentence
Questions & Answers about Внимательность намного важнее, когда ты читаешь длинное предложение.
Since we are learning about verbal adverbs, can we replace когда ты читаешь with the verbal adverb читая (while reading)?
No, that would be a major grammatical mistake! A strict rule of Russian verbal adverbs (деепричастия) is that they must describe an action performed by the subject of the main clause. The subject of the main clause here is внимательность (attentiveness). If you used читая, it would literally mean the attentiveness itself is reading the sentence. Because the subjects are different (внимательность vs. ты), you must use a complex sentence with когда.
Why does this sentence use важнее instead of более важная?
Важнее is the simple comparative form. When an adjective acts as the main predicate of the sentence (stating that the subject is more important), Russian strongly prefers this simple -ее form. Using the compound form более важная is not strictly wrong, but it sounds clunkier here. The compound form is usually reserved for when the adjective directly modifies a noun, like in более важная деталь (a more important detail).
Could I use очень важнее or много важнее to say 'much more important'?
No, neither of those works with comparative adjectives. To intensify a comparative form (to say 'much more...'), you must use намного or гораздо. You use очень (very) only with base adjectives like очень важно, and много (a lot) is used for quantities or modifying verbs, not for intensifying comparatives.
I often forget commas in Russian. Is the comma before когда optional like it sometimes is in English?
It is absolutely required. In Russian, the punctuation rule is very strict: whenever you connect two clauses that each have their own subject and verb (внимательность важнее and ты читаешь), you must separate them with a comma. Conjunctions like когда, что, and потому что always need a comma before them when they join clauses together.
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