Thread: How do you say "one of the most/least ... of ..."?

For example

... was one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century.

Thanks!

mike

Originally Posted by mikeyg

For example

... was one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century.

Thanks!

mike

100% depends on context. In this case it would be:
... был/было/была одним из важнейших открытий двадцатого века/столетия.

For 'of', you use the genitive case in Russian.

The most common and foolproof way to say "the most" is "самый/-ая/-ое" + adjective.
It can sound either formal or informal depending on the context. I'd recommend to stick to it unless you are absolutely sure that an alternative is more appropriate.
e.g.
Оля - самая красивая девочка в нашей школе.
Olya is the most beautiful girl in our school.

If you want to sound more formal you may replace "самый" with "наиболее" (it means the same but sounds more bookish):
e.g.
Наиболее разумное решение - это...
The most sensible decision is..
(please NOTE that "более" (without 'наи-') means "more", i.e. "более разумное решение" = "more sensible decision")

Other popular way (which doesn't sound right with some adjectives, though) is adding a suffix "-ейш-":
e.g.
Это важнейшее открытие 20-го века.
This is the most important discovery of the 20th century.

You can add to this form a prefix "наи-", which makes it even more bookish, but more expressive:
Это наиважнейшее открытие 20-го века.


To say "the least" you can use the word "наименее".
e.g.
Это мой наименее любимый предмет.
This is my least favourite subject.
But often such phrases sound a lot more natural if you use "самый" + antonym of your adjective. The phrase above will be "Это мой самый нелюбимый предмет".
In the same vein "Таня - самая некрасивая девочка в нашей школе" is much better than "Таня - наименее красивая девочка в нашей школе", and so on.


If "the most (the least)" refers to the verb (action) you should use "больше всего (меньше всего)".
e.g.
Больше всего я боюсь собак - I fear dogs the most.
Из всех фруктов я меньше всего люблю яблоки - Of all the fruits I like apples the least.