4.6 Comparison of adjectives
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4.6 Comparison of adjectives As in English, qualities can be compared using special forms of adjectives. These are formed with the endings -er and -st-, followed by a case ending if the adjective precedes a noun: Mein Auto ist schnell, dein Auto ist schneller, aber sie hat das schnellste Auto. My car is fast, your car is faster, but she’s got the fastest car. The form in -er is called the COMPARATIVE, and the form in -st- is called the SUPERLATIVE. These endings are used in German with all adjectives, irrespective of length, unlike English, where we use ‘more’/‘most’ with long adjectives: ‘faster’/‘fastest’ but ‘more beautiful’/‘most beautiful’:
positive
comparative
superlative
tief (deep) schön (beautiful) langsam (slow) freundlich (friendly, kind) unwiderstehlich (irresistible)
tiefer schöner langsamer freundlicher unwiderstehlicher
(das) tiefste (das) schönste (das) langsamste (das) freundlichste (das) unwiderstehlichste
NB It’s easy to confuse case ending and comparative ending. The case ending is added on to the comparative ending, e.g. ein schneller Drucker (masc. sg. nom., ‘a fast printer’) but ein schnellerer Drucker (a faster printer).
A few adjectives differ slightly from this pattern in forming their comparative and superlative:
Some common adjectives add Umlaut in the comparative and superlative, e.g. arm – ärmer – (das) ärmste: alt arg arm dumm grob hart
old bad poor stupid coarse hard
jung kalt klug krank kurz lang
young cold clever sick, ill short long
rot scharf schwach schwarz stark warm
red sharp weak black strong warm
