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Adjectives in German: Comparing things |
© Dave Nutting
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When the adjective does not stand in front of a noun:
| 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. = The Subaru is faster.
Der Porsche ist am schnellsten. = The Porsche is fastest.
Der Ford ist (von den drei) am billigsten. = The Ford is cheapest (of the three).
When the adjective stands in front of the noun it's describing:
| 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.
(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)
Adjectives of one syllable usually get an Umlaut when making comparisons. For example:
| 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 |
There are a few adjectives that do some weird things of their own:
| 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 |
Some 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).
Er ist noch schneller als ich. = He is even faster than I (am).
Das Wetter wird heute immer schlechter. = The weather today is getting worse and worse.
Sie ist die intelligenteste von allen. = She is the most intelligent of all.
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Created by D. Nutting