Comparative and superlative, the irregular forms worth memorising, and the one construction Russian speakers consistently get wrong: than is за with the accusative.
I can compare two things and name the best of several, using за or чым for "than".
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Нёман даўжэйшы за Свіслач.
The Nioman is longer than the Svislach.
Гэтая кватэра большая, чым тая.
This flat is bigger than that one.
Полацк - самы стары горад у краіне.
Polatsk is the oldest town in the country.
З усіх страў мне лепш за ўсё дранікі.
Of all the dishes I like draniki best.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Two ways, both correct:
Never both at once: больш навейшы is wrong.
| добры | лепшы | better |
| дрэнны | горшы | worse |
| вялікі | большы | bigger |
| малы | меншы | smaller |
This is the point to get right. Belarusian uses за with the accusative, or чым with the nominative:
A bare genitive - the ordinary Russian pattern - is not used here, and it is the single most frequent error in the topic.
хутка → хутчэй, добра → лепш, дрэнна → горш. These are the forms you already used impersonally: Сёння мне лепш.
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: stacking больш on top of a simple comparative, and using a bare genitive for "than".
Using a bare genitive for than
За with the accusative, or чым: даўжэйшы за Свіслач.
Stacking больш on a simple comparative
Either навейшы or больш новы, never больш навейшы.
Building a regular comparative from добры, дрэнны, вялікі or малы
They are лепшы, горшы, большы, меншы.
Leaving самы uninflected
It agrees: самы вялікі, самая прыгожая, самае цёплае.
Нёман даўжэйшы за Свіслач.
The Nioman is longer than the Svislach.
Than takes <em>за</em> with the accusative - not a bare genitive.
Гэтая кватэра большая, чым тая.
This flat is bigger than that one.
The alternative construction with <em>чым</em>, which keeps the nominative after it.
Полацк - самы стары горад у краіне.
Polatsk is the oldest town in the country.
<em>Самы</em> agrees with <em>горад</em>, so both words are masculine.
З усіх страў мне лепш за ўсё дранікі.
Of all the dishes I like draniki best.
<em>Лепш за ўсё</em> is the fixed way of saying best of all.
Сёння надвор'е горшае, чым учора.
The weather is worse today than yesterday.
The irregular <em>горшы</em>, agreeing with the neuter <em>надвор'е</em>.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
The current academic reference grammar; the linked edition serves the full text. It defines the adjective as a significant part of speech denoting a non-processual feature and expressing its meaning through the categories of gender, number and case - the definition this article's agreement rules rest on.
The academic reference grammar behind the phonology, orthoepy and morphology sections: the 32-letter inventory, дж and дз as digraphs rather than letters, and the normative description of akanne and jakanne. A print work; no URL is given, because the only one available is a library catalogue record that carries none of the text.