Multimedia materials for learning german – The comparison of adjectives

The comparison of adjectives

The german language allows the comparison of adjectives (and some adverbs). Comparison is a feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages, whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected or modified to indicate the relative degree of the property defined by the adjective or adverb. The comparative expresses a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality, quantity, or degree; the superlative is the form of an adverb or adjective that is the greatest degree of a given descriptor. More Information ...

For example:
Groß – größer – am größten
[big – bigger - biggest]
Gut – besser – am besten
[good – better – best]

The german language distinguishes three degrees of comparison:

In German, regularly inflected adjectives in the comparative end on "-er" and are connected to the object of comparison using "als".

The superlative ends on "-st" resp. "-est" after -s, -ß, -sch, -d, -t, -tz, -x or -z. In an adverbial use of adjectives the superlative is connected with "am":

• groß – größer – (am) größte(n) [big – bigger - biggest]
• schön – schöner – (am) schönste(n) [beautiful – more beautiful – the most beautiful]
• wild – wilder – (am) wildeste(n) [wild – wilder – the wildest]

Irregular forms of comparison are shown by adjectives, which deviate from the above mentioned rule (different stem of word or variation of a consonant). Irregular forms are shown by the following adjectives:

• gut – besser – (am) beste(n) [good – better – best]
• viel – mehr – (am) meiste(n) [much/many – more – most]
• gerne – lieber – (am) liebste(n) [like/enjoy – to prefer sth. to – to like sth. best]
• hoch – höher – (am) höchste(n) [high – higher – highest]
• wenig – weniger/minder – (am) wenigste(n)/(am) mindeste(n) (beide Formen möglich) [little/not much – less/smaller – least/littlest/smallest]
• nahe – näher – (am) nächste(n) [near – closer – closest]

Some adjectives show a change from simple vowel to umlaut in the comparative and superlative: a becomes ä, o becomes ö and u becomes ü. The following adjectives form the comparative and superlative with umlaut:

• a → ä: alt, arg, arm, hart, kalt, krank, lang, nah, scharf, schwach, schwarz, stark, warm [old, bad, poor, hard, cold, ill, long, close, sharp/hot, weak, black, strong, warm]
• o → ö: grob, groß, hoch [coarse/rough, big, high]
• u → ü: dumm, gesund, jung, klug, kurz [stupid, healthy, young, clever, short]

The application of the comparison

Predicative position

Attributive position (in front of the noun)

* The superlative is formed with the definite article only.

Comparisons / Examples

• Susanne ist größer als Klaus, aber kleiner als Peter.[Susanne is taller than Klaus, but shorter than Peter.]
• Hans und Ahmed sind gleich groß. – Hans ist so groß wie Ahmed.[Hans and Ahmed are the same height. – Hans is as tall as Ahmed.]
• Peter ist der größte von allen. – Peter ist am größten.[Peter is the tallest of them all.]
• Die Zugspitze ist der höchste Berg Deutschlands.[The Zugspitze is the highest mountain of Germany.]

Comparison exercise

Of course there is also an online exercise covering this topic:

The exercise