What's good to know about descriptive adjectives in Serbian?

The function of descriptive adjectives in Serbian is to name the qualities and characteristics of animate and inanimate beings.
Serbian descriptive adjectives are declined and can be compared.

  • Firstly there are definite descriptive adjectives.
    They have the same case endings as Serbian possessive pronouns.
    You find the definite form of a descriptive adjective if it answers to the following question:
    Који? / Koji? (Which (one)?)

    For example:
    Који је твој шал? / Koji je tvoj šal?/
    Мој шал је онај зелени? / Moj šal je onaj zeleni.
    (Which scarf is yours? My scarf is the green one.)
  • Secondly we have to distinguish indefinite descriptive adjectives.
    They have the same case endings as the Serbian nouns.
    You find the indefinite form of a descriptive adjective if it answers to the question:
    Kakav? (What (kind of)?)

    For example:
    Какав је сендвич? / Kakav je sendvič?
    Сендвич је укусан. / Sendvič je ukusan.
    (What's he sandwich like? The sandwich is delicious.)
 
Regarding comparison:
When it comes to comparison of adjectives, the distinction of these two types plays no role any more.
For both types of descriptive adjectives the same rules apply for building the comparison forms.
 

Rules for comparison of Serbian descriptive adjectives:

 
Comparative degree:
word stem of descriptive adjective + ији/-iji (m); ија/-ija (f); ије/-ije (n)
 
For example:

стар / star (old → elder):

m: старији / stariji
f: старија / starija
n: старије / starije
 

хладан / hladan (cold → colder):

m: хладнији / hladniji
f: хладнија / hladnija
n: хладније / hladnije
 
Superlative degree
нај/naj + comparative degree
 
For example:

стар / star (old → eldest):

m: старији / stariji (elder) – најстарији / najstariji (eldest)
f: старија / starija (elder) – најстарија / najstarija (eldest)
n: старије / starije (elder) – најстарије / najstarije (eldest)
 

Commonly used adjectives with irregular comparison:

 

good:
добар / dobar → бољи / bolji → најбољи / najbolji

bad:
лош / loš → гори / gori → најгори / najgori

big, tall:
велик / velik → већи / veći → највећи / najveći

small, short:
мали / mali → мањи / manji → најмањи / najmanji

 

 

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