Polish/Comparative and Superlative

In grammar, the comparative and superlative forms of an adjective or adverb indicate that something possesses a certain feature to a greater degree than anything else it is being compared to in a given context. For instance, if Adam is 45, Bess is 35, and Chris is 25, Bess is older than Chris, but Adam is the oldest of the three. His age surpasses those of Bess and Chris. Conversely, Chris is the youngest, as his age is less than those of Adam and Bess. If Dan, who is 50, and Edna, who is 20, join the group, Dan becomes the oldest and Edna the youngest.

In Polish, the construction of the comparative and superlative depends on the form of the word.

1. For words ending in k, such as szeroki, wysoki, or szybki, the comparative is formed by removing the ending of the word and adding szy, e.g., szerszy, wyższy, and szybszy. The superlative is formed by adding naj in front of the comparative, e.g., najszerszy, najwyższy, najszybszy.
2. For words not ending in k, such as stary, nowy, and tani, the comparative is formed by adding szy directly to the end of the word, e.g., starszy, nowszy, tańszy. The superlative is formed in the same way as above, by adding naj in front, e.g., najstarszy, najnowszy, najtańszy.
3. Words ending in n or pł form the comparative and superlative in the same way as above, except they require a niej between the ending of the word and the szy. So they become ładniejszy, wygodniejszy, cieplejszy in the comparative case and najładniejszy, najwygodniejszy, najcieplejszy in the superlative case. Note that the ł changes to l in "ciepły".
4. There are some irregular cases, see the examples below.
5. Finally, there are adjectives which don't have comparative and superlative forms. An example in English is awful, which becomes more awful and most awful. In Polish, the words bardziej and najbardziej are used for more/most and mniej/najmniej are used for less/least.