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:

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’:

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.

positive comparative superlative

tief (deep) schön (beautiful)

tiefer schöner

(das) tiefste (das) schönste langsam (slow) langsamer (das) langsamste freundlich (friendly, kind) freundlicher (das) freundlichste unwiderstehlich (irresistible) unwiderstehlicher (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 old jung young rot red arg bad kalt cold scharf sharp arm poor klug clever schwach weak dumm stupid krank sick, ill schwarz black grob coarse kurz short stark strong hart hard lang long warm warm