EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 63 Bigger and Beer: Comparaves 368 / 600
Quantities and Existence):
Tvoj auto N je mnogo brži N . Your car is a lot faster.
m | brz
Damir N je dosta stariji N od Ane G . Damir is quite older than Ana.
While mnogo sounds a bit formal when expressing relative quantities in Croatian
(e.g. mnogo ljudi many people), it’s very often used with comparatives even in very
colloquial contexts.
To ask about how is something comparing to something else, use koliko / koliko
how much; the comparative is not moved:
Koliko je Damir N stariji N od Ane G ? How much older is Damir than Ana?
— Dosta. Quite older.
— Osam godina G . Eight years older.
There’s a very compact expression in Croatian:
što + (comp.) ... = as (comp.) ... as possible ®
The word što doesn’t change case when used in this role – a kind of quantity adverb
– but the comparative does, of course:
Treba mi DL što dublji N lonac N . I need as deep a pot as possible.
1 | dubok
Želimo što veću A sobu A . We want as big a room as possible.
velik
This phrase is more restricted in Croatian than in English: it’s rarely used for
description of actual things, it’s mostly used for things required, needed, imagined
and like.
This can be used to maximize comparative adverbs; frequently used ones are:
što brže as quickly as possible
što ranije as early as possible
što prije as soon as possible
For example:
Dođi što brže! Come as quickly as possible!
doći | brzo
You will sometimes see čim instead of što in such expressions, both with adjectives
and adverbs:
Dođi čim ranije. Come as early as possible. ®
doći
If you want to express that something is increasing in some property, the easiest
way is to use sve before the comparative: this word means all on its own, but not in
such constructions:
More N postaje sve toplije N . The sea is getting/becoming warmer and postajati
warmer.
Filmovi N su sve dosadniji N . Movies are more and more boring.