Adjectives in German: Comparing Things
| "Umlaut" adjectives | Weird adjectives | Interactive exercises | Exercises for printing | Appearance adjectives | Personality adjectives | Grammar Index |
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When the adjective does not stand in front of a noun:
| Basic Adjective | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| schnell fast |
schneller faster |
am schnellsten fastest |
| billig cheap |
billiger cheaper |
am billigsten cheapest |
Der Ford ist schnell. = The Ford is fast.
Der Subaru ist schneller (als der Ford). = The Subaru is faster (than the Ford). ["comparative" - comparing two things]
Der Porsche ist am schnellsten. = The Porsche is fastest. ["superlative" - comparing three or more things]
Der Ford ist (von den drei) am billigsten. = The Ford is cheapest (of the three). ["superlative" - comparing three or more things]
When the adjective stands in front of the noun it's describing:
| Basic Adjective | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| der schnelle ... the fast ... |
der schnellere
... the faster ... |
der schnellste
...(1) the fastest ... |
| der billige ... the cheap ... |
der billigere
... the cheaper ... |
der billigste
...(1) the cheapest ... |
Der Ford ist der billige Wagen. = The Ford is the cheap car.
Der Ford ist der billigere Wagen von den zwei. = The Ford is the cheaper car of the two.
Der Ford ist der billigste Wagen von den drei hier. = The Ford is the cheapest car of the three here.
Die billigsten Wagen sind manchmal nicht sehr gut. = The cheapest cars are sometimes not very good.
![[icon: post-it note]](../../images/icon-note.gif){kind=icon}
(1) When making comparisons of things
such as the biggest, most generous, most intelligent etc, as in the right-hand
column above, German-speakers only need a single word, unlike English expressions
such as the "most" generous,
the "most" talented
etc.
Adjectives that end in -d, -t, -s, -ss, -ß, or -sch add an e before the st (exception: groß >> am größten). For example: »die intelligenteste Person in meiner Klasse«
Adjectives of one syllable usually get an Umlaut when making comparisons. For example:
| Basic Adjective | English | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
| alt | old | älter | am ältesten |
| arm | poor | ärmer | am ärmsten |
| groß | big | größer | am größten |
| hart | hard | härter | am härtesten |
| jung | young | jünger | am jüngsten |
| kalt | cold | kälter | am kältesten |
| klug | clever | klüger | am klügsten |
| krank | ill | kränker | am kränksten |
| kurz | short | kürzer | am kürzesten |
| lang | long | länger | am längsten |
| oft | often | öfter | am öftesten |
| schwach | weak | schwächer | am schwächsten |
| stark | strong | stärker | am stärksten |
| warm | warm | wärmer | am wärmsten |
Werbeslogan in einem Baumarkt
Informationen an einer Baustelle in der deutschen Stadt Kassel
»steilste Zahnradbahn der Welt« (steepest cog-railway of the world [Switzerland])
There are a few adjectives that do some weird things of their own:
| Basic Adjective | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| gern = willingly, like to | lieber = preferably | am liebsten = most preferably |
| gut = good | besser = better | am besten = best |
| hoch = high | höher = higher | am höchsten = highest |
| nah = near, close | näher = nearer, closer | am nächsten = nearest |
| viel = much, a lot of | mehr = more | am meisten = most |
Examples of comparison:
Er ist so alt wie ich. = He is as old as I (am).
Wir sind gleich alt. = We are the same age.
Sie ist nicht so alt wie ich. = She is not as old as I (am).
Stefan ist älter als ich. = Stefan is older than I (am).
Sie ist die intelligenteste von allen. = She is the most intelligent of all.
even more interesting... | even better...
⇒ noch + adjective in comparative form
Der Film »Toy Story 2« ist noch besser als »Toy Story«! = The film "Toy Story 2" is even better than "Toy Story"!
Er ist noch schneller als ich. = He is even faster than I (am).
more and more interesting... better and better...
⇒ immer + adjective in comparative form
Das Buch »Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz« ist toll! Die Geschichte wird immer interessanter! = The book "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is great! The story gets more and more interesting!
Das Wetter wird heute immer schlechter. = The weather today is getting worse and worse.
»immer besser« - We could interpret this ad two ways: 1) this German company says its products are always better than their rivals; 2) the company says the products it develops become better and better.
- a gap-fill (multiple-choice) exercise on the comparative (travel focused) #1 (D Nutting)
- a match-up exercise on comparative adjectives in German #1, matching sentence-halves (Frau Lloyd)
- a match-up exercise on comparative adjectives in German #2, matching sentence-halves (Frau Lloyd)
- a Challenge game (1-player or 2-players) on comparative and superlative adjectives in German (Kristin Haase) [in this game, when she says 'superlative form', she means things like "am interessantesten"]
- a match-up exercise, comparing school subjects [matching meanings German/English] (Frau Ashburner)
- a match-up exercise on superlatives: The most "______" subject in school [matching meanings German/English] (Frau Ashburner)
- der Komparativ und Superlativ - Adjektive [sentences with gap-fill, some multiple-choice] (D Nutting)
Created by D Nutting