бољи / гори / већи / мањи

Irregular Comparatives

Level 2Sounds Like bol̂i; gori; veći; man̂i

There are only four adjectives in the entire Serbian language that form irregular (suppletive) comparatives rather than taking standard suffixes (-ији or -ји): добар becomes бољи (better), зао (and colloquially лош) becomes гори (worse), велик(и) becomes већи (bigger), and мали becomes мањи (smaller).

How It Works

In Serbian, comparison usually relies on adding regular suffixes like -ији or stem palatalization with -ји (see comparing things). There are strictly four adjectives in standard Serbian that exhibit irregular (suppletive) comparative stems:

  • добар (good) → бољи (better)
  • зао (bad, evil) → гори (worse) (Note: In everyday usage, гори also serves as the comparative for лош [bad], alongside regular лошији)
  • велик / велики (big, large) → већи (bigger)
  • мали (small, little) → мањи (smaller)

Key Usage & Grammatical Points:
1. Adjective Agreement & Declension: Comparatives decline like definite adjectives to match the gender, number, and case of the noun they describe (see adjective agreement). All comparative adjectives in Serbian follow the soft declension in the masculine and neuter singular oblique cases. This includes гори, which historically derives from a soft stem: genitive -ег(а) (бољег, горег, већег, мањег) and dative/locative -ем(у) (бољем, горем, већем, мањем).

2. Neuter Singular in -e: In the nominative neuter singular, comparatives always take the ending -е (боље, горе, веће, мање), whereas regular positive adjectives with hard stems take -о (e.g., добро, велико).

3. Adverbial and Quantifier Functions: The neuter singular forms also serve as comparative adverbs: боље (better), горе (worse), and мање (less / fewer). For example: Говорим српски боље. (I speak Serbian better.) In addition, мање functions as a quantifier (+ genitive) meaning "less" or "fewer", serving as the antonym of више (more):
• више новца (more money) vs. мање новца (less money).
Do not confuse the adjective веће (bigger [neuter]) with the quantifier више (more).

4. Forming Superlatives: Superlatives are formed straightforwardly by attaching the prefix нај- directly to the comparative without a space: најбољи, најгори, највећи, најмањи.

5. Comparison Frames: When comparing items, use either од + genitive or него (see comparison frames):
• Овај стан је већи од оног. (This flat is bigger than that one.)
• Овај стан је већи него онај. (This flat is bigger than that one.)

Examples (4)

  1. Овај нови стан је много већи и бољи од старог.

    This new apartment is much bigger and better than the old one.

    Word by Word: This new apartment is much bigger and better from old [one].

    Here, 'већи' (bigger) and 'бољи' (better) agree with the masculine singular noun 'стан'.

  2. Данас је ситуација гора него јуче.

    Today the situation is worse than yesterday.

    Word by Word: Today is situation worse than yesterday.

    'Гора' is the feminine singular nominative form of 'гори', agreeing with 'ситуација'.

  3. Имамо мању кућу, али највеће двориште у крају.

    We have a smaller house, but the biggest yard in the neighborhood.

    Word by Word: We-have smaller house, but biggest yard in neighborhood.

    'Мању' is feminine accusative singular modifying 'кућу', while 'највеће' is the neuter superlative modifying 'двориште'.

  4. То је било много боље решење за све нас.

    That was a much better solution for all of us.

    Word by Word: That was much better solution for all us.

    'Боље' is the neuter singular nominative form agreeing with 'решење'.

Common Mistakes

  • Applying regular comparative endings (-ији or -ји) instead of irregular forms.

    Овај ауто је добарији од мог.
    Овај ауто је бољи од мог.

    Forms like 'добарији', 'великији', or '*малији' do not exist in Serbian. Always use the irregular forms 'бољи', 'већи', and 'мањи'.

  • Leaving the comparative in the masculine citation form instead of matching noun gender.

    Ова соба је већи од кухиње.
    Ова соба је већа од кухиње.

    Comparatives must agree in gender with the subject. 'Соба' is feminine, so the comparative must be 'већа', not the masculine 'већи'.

  • Using the adjective 'веће' instead of the adverb/quantifier 'више' to mean 'more'.

    Имам веће новца него пре.
    Имам више новца него пре.

    'Веће' means 'bigger' (neuter). To express a greater quantity of something ('more'), use the quantifier 'више'.

How It Connects

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бољи / гори / већи / мањиLevel 2Irregular Comparatives

Learn This First

To learn irregular comparative forms like бољи, гори, већи, and мањи, learners first need to understand the concept of comparative adjectives and how to decline and agree adjectives with nouns in gender and number.

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гори