# Serbian: complex comparison



## TheNikus

I think I understand how basic Serbian comparison works.

_Ova k__uća je veća nego ova / no ova / od ove._ This house is bigger then this one.

But how would I translate this: "My house is bigger than Milan's"? It can't be "Moja kuća je veća od Milana", because than means "My house is bigger than Milan." Do I *have to* say "Moja kuća je veća od kuće Milana"?

Please help.


----------



## iezik

TheNikus said:


> But how would I translate this: "My house is bigger than Milan's"?



It's typically _Moja kuća je veća od Milanove._ The possesive adjectives like Milanov can be used standalone, similarly to German standalone adjectives.


----------



## TheNikus

Does that work with all names and nouns? Like, how would I say "It's bigger than Lisa's" or "It's bigger than my teacher's"?


----------



## iezik

Yes, _Veća je od Lisine_ and _Veća je od nastavnikove_, as long as the noun has a related possesive adjective.


----------



## TheNikus

TheNikus said:


> Does that work with all names and nouns? Like, how would I say "It's bigger than Lisa's" or "It's bigger than my teacher's"?



I found out that its supposed to be _"je ve__ć__a od Lisine". _But the guide I looked at only talked about names. Do these "possessiv adjectives work with nouns, too? Like_ "je ve__ć__a od__ u__čitel__jove"?

_EDIT: Oh, thank you. You were faster than me  

And I guess it's supposed to be "_u__čitel__j*e*ve"._


----------



## malinar

TheNikus said:


> "It's bigger than *my* teacher's"?



Actually, if you had to include "my", then you would have to say _Veća je od kuće mog nastavnika. 

_


----------



## Sobakus

malinar said:


> Actually, if you had to include "my", then you would have to say _Veća je od kuće mog nastavnika.
> 
> _



"My" is required by the English grammar in lieu of the definite article, but in languages lacking definiteness whose teacher it is is self-evident.


----------



## iezik

TheNikus said:


> And I guess it's supposed to be "_u__čitel__j*e*ve"._



There are several possible translations of "teacher", most common učiteljica/učitelj (often for the first 4 years of primary school), nastavnica/nastavnik (general title), profesorka/profesor (secondary school). But this can be another topic.


----------

