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I have read this sentence: "какие професии наиболее востребованы?", which translates "Which jobs are the most needed?".
so here "the most (+ adjective)" is rendered with наиболее.
My problem is: to translate "the most..." I have always said "самый + adjective".
Now I am confused. Why did they use наиболее? Could it be possibile to write here "самые востребованы"? Are they interchangable?
If so, how can I make a form similar to наиболее with other adjecives?
An adjective (or an attributive pronoun like "самый") is not used to modify a short version of an adjective or participle like "востребован", "болен", "бел", etc. Olny an adverb would do. An adverb can, of course, modify the full form of the same adjective.
Examples:
весёлый -- самый весёлый, but весел -- предельноadverb весел (cannot say самый весел, but can say предельно весёлый)
глупый -- самый глупый, but глуп -- неописуемоadverb глуп (cannot say самый глуп, but can say неописуемо глупый)
I have always said "самый + adjective"
There are two forms of superlative in Russian: simple (using suffixes -айш- or -ейш-, and, optionally, the prefix наи-) and complex one. To form a complex superlative you also have a couple of variants using either: самый, or наиболее, or наименее + adjective/participle.
Yet what you have here is the short form (востребованы), which prohibits the usage of the adjective самый. That is the possible combinations are: наиболее востребованные, наиболее востребованы, самые востребованные.
Неправильно - "Самые востребованы". Правильно - "Самые востребованные".
"Why did they use наиболее?" Я не знаю и никто не знает. :)
Excuse my English.
As far as I know, наиболее is a bit more formal than самый. In terms of meaning I would say they're interchangeable. Anyway, keep in mind that наиболее is an adverb, while самый is an adjective, so the latter must be declined. The two possible options are: 1. наиболее востребованы 2. самые востребованные
PS: I'm not Russian, so it might not be 100% correct :)
