All About Adjective Comparison in Polish
In Polish, there are 3 types of adjective comparison: simple, irregular, and descriptive*. Keep in mind that all adjectives keep their genderized endings (“-a” for feminine, “-y”/“-i” for masculine, “-e” for neuter, “-i” for plural masculine, “-e” for plural feminine), no matter if they’re in their positive, comparative, or superlative form.
Funny enough, the simple comparison type is the most complicated one. Don’t get scared with all the rules I’m about to show you here; I promise once you get through the 1st type, you’ll be relieved to see how simple the remaining two are.
1st type: simple (stopniowanie proste)
You simply add suffixes “-szy”/“-ejszy” to the adjective stem, depending on the gender and number, of course. So for masculine adjectives, it’s “-szy”/“-ejszy”, for feminine – “-sza”/“-ejsza”, etc.
> for adjective stems ending with only one consonant (consonant before a gender letter)
e.g. weak - słaby (m.) => “b” is our consonant, “y” is our gender letter (tells us the adjective is masculine and singular)
masculine: słaby -> słabszy
feminine: słaba -> słabsza
neuter: słabe -> słabsze
Of course, Polish loves irregularities, so there are a few catches.
Adjective stems ending with g, ł, n change: g->ż, ł->l, n->ń.
e.g. drogi (m.) - expensive
drogi -> droższy
miła (f.) - nice
miła -> milsza
tanie (n.) - cheap
tanie -> tańsze
If g/ł/n ends the stem and it’s proceeded by either “a” or “o”, the vowel changes into an “e”:
e.g. biały (m.) - white
biały -> bielszy
wesoła (f.) - cheerful
wesoła -> weselsza
Schematically, “ą” will change into “ę” and “t” into “c”:
e.g. gorące (n.) - hot
gorące -> gorętsze
> if the stem ends with more than one consonant
e.g. serious - poważny (m.) => 2 consonants before the gender letter, so we know this adjective falls into the “-ejszy” category
fajny (m.) - cool
fajny -> fajniejszy
luźna (f.) - loose
luźna -> luźniejsza
zabawne (n.) - funny
zabawne -> zabawniejsze
Thankfully, there’s only one irregularity rule here.
Just like g/ł/n in the other suffix, “-ejszy” has three magical letters as well. They are: s, r, n that change into: s->ś, r->rz, n->ni.
e.g. mądry (m.) - smart
mądry - mądrzejszy
ładna (f.) - pretty
ładna -> ładniejsza
jasne (n.) - bright
jasne -> jaśniejsze
WATCH OUT! There are few adjectives that still apply to the first comparison group, even though their stems end in two consonants.
e.g. prosty -> prostszy
twardy -> twardszy
Apart from adding the adequate suffix, your adjective also needs a “naj-” prefix. This one’s pretty simple, there are no irregularities and it’s a neutral prefix for every adjective.
e.g. długi (m.) - long
długi -> dłuższy -> najdłuższy
wysoka (f.) - tall
wysoka -> wyższa -> najwyższa
stare (n.) - old
stare -> starsze -> najstarsze
2nd type: irregular (stopniowanie nieregularne)
Just like in English, there are some adjectives that have a weird comparative form. There’s no other way than just to learn them by heart, but worry not – there are only like 5 common adjectives like that.
duży -> większy -> największy
mały -> mniejszy -> najmniejszy
dobry -> lepszy -> najlepszy
zły -> gorszy -> najgorszy
lekki -> lżejszy -> najlżejszy
3rd type: descriptive (stopniowanie opisowe)
Some adjectives’ comparative and superlative forms can be created not by changing the adjectives, but by putting an extra word in front of it. What’s interesting in this type of adjective comparison is that you can use this type to create the comparative of every adjective. Sometimes, however, it won’t sound natural.
e.g. szybki (m.) - fast
it would sound natural if you said “szybki->szybszy” (1st type), but technically it is correct to use “szybki->bardziej szybki” (but it sounds weird).
There are also adjectives that would sound weird in the 1st type.
e.g. niebieski (m.) - blue
“niebieski->bardziej niebieski”(3rd type) is natural and okay, but “niebieski->niebieściejszy” (1st type) is wrong.
Simply put “bardziej” (more) in front of the adjective and voilà!
e.g. chciwy (m.) - greedy
chciwy -> bardziej chciwy
wygodna (f.) - comfortable
wygodna -> bardziej wygodna
zniszczone (n.) - destroyed
zniszczone -> bardziej zniszczone
Instead of “bardziej”, place “najbardziej” (the most) before your adjective.
e.g. chciwy -> bardziej chciwy -> najbardziej chciwy
wygodna -> bardziej wygodna -> najbardziej wygodna
zniszczone -> bardziej zniszczone -> najbardziej zniszczone
There are some adjectives in Polish that don’t have a comparative or superlative form. Those are all the adjectives that tell us about what something is made of and where it comes from. In colloquial Polish, however, every adjective can be compared in the 3rd form.
e.g. warszawski (m.) - from Warsaw
warszawski -> bardziej warszawski -> najbardziej warszawski
It’s not grammatically correct because a thing or a person simply can’t be more from Warsaw that something or someone else. If you hear someone say “bardziej warszawski”, though, they probably mean that the thing they’re talking about resembles/reminds them of Warsaw more than the other thing.
drewniana (f.) - wooden
Again – in colloquial Polish “bardziej drewniana lalka” would mean “more wooden doll” and someone who said it probably meant that more wood was used to make the doll than it was used to make the other thing they’re comparing the doll to.
It is possible in Polish to compare things that are less *adjective*. It very much resembles the 3rd type of comparison, except that instead of “bardziej” you use “mniej” (less), and “najbardziej” turns into “najmniej” (the least).
e.g. chciwy (m.) - greedy
chciwy -> mniej chciwy -> najmniej chciwy
wygodna (f.) - comfortable
wygodna -> mniej wygodna -> najmniej wygodna
zniszczone (n.) - destroyed
zniszczone -> mniej zniszczone -> najmniej zniszczone
And I believe that would be all about adjective comparison in Polish. I realize it’s a lot of information and some probably complicated things, so don’t hesitate to ask me if you have any questions or don’t understand something. I’ll be more than glad to help.
*I’m not sure if those are their correct English names. In Polish they’re called: proste, nieregularne, opisowe (respectively), and I translated them literally.
