The Adjective
Let us clarify first of all the concept of adjective. The adjectives are words which describe a nouns, adding information to it.
A cler example is given by the qualifying adjectives: beautiful, good, yellow, broken, fast.
Just like in English, in Polish we usually put the adjective before the noun, eg. "dobra cena": "good price", "piękna kobieta": "beautiful girl". however, when the adjective specifies a typology regarding the name, it goes after it. eg. "Bank Nardowy": "National Bank".
Comparative Adjectives
Comparative adjectives compare two nouns, as we can guess from their name. Some example: tigers are faster than dogs, la Fiat Panda is less expensive than Ferrari, Leonardi da Vinci was as clever as Heinstein.
We candeduct three possibilities from the previous examples:
- A is more X than B (+)
- A is less X than B (-)
- A as X as B (=)
Polish Comparative adjective
Polish comparative adjective is build very similarly to English one:
- we add something to the adjective, just like -er in English, when from "strong" we have "stronger".
- we add a word before the adjective, just like when we add "more" to the adjective "intelligent", and we have "more intelligent" as result.
While in English we build the comparative adding -er or "more" basically according to the lenght of the djective, in Polish we choose one or the other way because of other reasons
While in English we build the comparative adding -er or "more" basically according to the lenght of the djective, in Polish we choose one or the other way because of other reasons
Here you are how to construct the comparative adjectives in Polish:
1- Add to the root the following endings, depending if the adjective refers to masculine, feminine or neutral name:
1- Add to the root the following endings, depending if the adjective refers to masculine, feminine or neutral name:
- masculine singular: -szy
- feminine singular: -sza
- neutral singular: -sze
- masculine plural: -si
- femminine plural: -sze
- neutral plural: -sze
Eg. stary (old - m.s.) → starszy (older - m.s.), starsi (the oldest - m.p.).
Eg. stara (old - f.s.) → starsza (older - f.s.), starsze (the oldest - f.p.).
Eg. stare (old - n.s.) → starsze (older - n.s.), starsze (the oldest - n.p.).
The adjectives which end in "-ny" add "-iejszy" at the end.
Eg. "smutny" (sad) → "smutniejszy" (sadder).
Eg. "brudny" (dirty) → "brudniejszy" (dirtier).
2 - Some adjectives, amongst which past participles of verbs (eg. "appeciated", adjective which stems from the verb "to appreciate", "clean", adjective which stems from the verb "to clean"), form the comparative by adding the word "bardziej" before the adjective (just like in English we add "more" before the adjective).
Eg. chory (sick) → bardziej chory (sicker).
Eg. zmęczony (tired) → bardziej zmęczony (more tired).
3 - There are at the end the irregular adjectives:
dobry (good) → lepszy (better)
zły (bad) → gorszy (worse)
duży (big) → większy (bigger)mały (small) → mniejszy (smaller)
drogi (expensive) → droższy (more expensive)
tani (cheap) → tańszy (cheaper)
4 - Negative comparative, which is "less ...than...", is formed by adding the word "mniej" before the adjective.
Eg. ładna (beautiful) → mniej ładna (less beautiful)
Eg. gruby (fat) → mniej gruby (less fat)
5 - The preposition "than" in English is translated in Polish with "od":
Eg.Piwo jest leprzy od kobiety - Beer is better than women.
Eg. Co jest gorsze od parkującej kobiety? - What's worse than a parking woman?
5 - The preposition "than" in English is translated in Polish with "od":
Eg.Piwo jest leprzy od kobiety - Beer is better than women.
Eg. Co jest gorsze od parkującej kobiety? - What's worse than a parking woman?
Polish superlative adjective
In order to form the Polish superlative adjective we just need to add the prefix "naj" before the comparative adjective.
Eg. smutny (sad) → smutniejszy (sadder) → najsmutniejszy (the saddest)
Eg. stara (old) → starsza (oldest) → "najstarsza (the oldest)"
This rule applies also to irregular comparatives:
dobry (good) → lepszy (better) → najlepszy (the best).
zły (bad) → gorszy (worse) → najgorszy (the worst).
mały (small) → mniejszy (smaller) → najmniejszy (the smallest).
When the comparative is formed with the word "bardziej", we add "naj" to this word: "najbardziej".
Eg. kochana (loved) → bardziej kochana (more loved) → najbardziej kochana (the most loved)
Eg. zmęczony (tired) → bardziej zmęczony (more tired) → najbardziej zmęczony (the most tired)
In order to form the negative superlative we ust need to add "naj" to the word "mniej", forming "najmniej", which means "the least...".
Eg. zdolny (able) → mniej zdolny (less able) → najmniej zdolny (the least able)
Es. zły (bad) → mniej zły (less bad) → najmniej zły (the least bad)
eg. John is as good as Jack: John jest taki zdolny jak Jack.
As you may see, the Plish equality comparative changes according to the gender. We decline both the adjective and the word "taki":
In the case of adverbs, we add the ending "-ej" in order to form the comparative and "naj...ej" for the superlative:
często (often) → częściej (more often) → najczęściej (most often)
dobrze (well) → lepiej (better) → najlepiej (best)
You can find in wikipedia a list of the common adverbs.
Polish Equality Comparative
In Polish the equality comparative is formed similarly to how we form the English one:eg. John is as good as Jack: John jest taki zdolny jak Jack.
As you may see, the Plish equality comparative changes according to the gender. We decline both the adjective and the word "taki":
- taki (masculine)
- taka (feminine)
- takie (neutral)
- tacy (masculine plural)
- takie (feminine and neutral plural)
Polish Comparative and Superlative Adverbs
Just like adjectives, also adverbs can be comparative or superlative.In the case of adverbs, we add the ending "-ej" in order to form the comparative and "naj...ej" for the superlative:
często (often) → częściej (more often) → najczęściej (most often)
dobrze (well) → lepiej (better) → najlepiej (best)
You can find in wikipedia a list of the common adverbs.
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