4.11 Comparison and the superlative — Epoché
What you will be able to do Build all three comparisons — more, less and as much — with one pattern that never changes and only a few irregular forms to learn. Choose correctly between the two irregular words that both translate as better , by asking what the word is describing. Build a superlative, and put the definite article in the place French requires rather than the place English suggests. Say what English does instead, and why the absence of a comparative ending makes French easier here than English is. Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the French aloud; all of them come back below. French English C'est plus cher que ça. [1] This is more expensive than that. Bilal est plus grand que Karam. [2] Bilal is taller than Karam. Es-tu plus jeune que lui ? [3] Are you younger than him? Prerequisites : 4.10 — you need the adjective agreement from earlier in this volume, because a comparative adjective still agrees with its noun, and you need the contractions, because a superlative is very often followed by one. See 4.10 Grammar if you need it. This is one of the easier lessons in the volume, and it is worth saying so at the outset, because the previous two were not. French comparison has almost no irregular forms to speak of, no endings to attach, and one word that serves for than and as alike. Where English has two competing systems and a set of exceptions that native speakers argue about, French has a single pattern with a couple of exceptions. The pattern is: a word meaning more, less or equally, then the adjective or adverb, then a linking word, then whatever you are comparing with. Four slots, always in that order, and the only thing that varies is the first slot. If you can fill those four slots you can compare any two qualities. (Comparing actions works slightly differently: the comparison word follows the verb, as in il travaille plus que moi , he works more than I do.) The superlative is built from the same pattern by adding the definite article and dropping the last two slots. That leaves two things that need care: where the article goes when an adjective follows its noun, and the two irregular words that both mean better . How English does it English has two comparative systems; French has one. English adds an ending to short adjectives and a separate word to long ones, and the dividing line is a matter of syllable count and of habit that even native speakers get wrong. Commoner or more common ? French never faces the question. It always uses a separate word, for every adjective of every length, and there is therefore nothing to decide. English has irregular comparatives; French has three: meilleur, mieux and pire (which also has a regular alternative). Good, better, best and bad, worse, worst are the English survivors of an older system, and there are a few more. French has an irregular comparative for the adjective meaning good and one for the adverb meaning well , and that is essentially the whole list. The word meaning bad has both an irregular form and a perfectly regular alternative. Both are correct; the irregular one is the commoner in set phrases. English distinguishes better from better without noticing; French spells the two differently. In a better idea the word describes a noun, and in she sings better it describes a verb. English uses one word for both, and most native speakers have never noticed there are two jobs. French has two separate words, one an adjective that agrees, one an adverb that does not, and choosing between them is one of the two things in this lesson you can really get wrong. English marks the superlative with an ending or with most ; French marks it with the definite article. That article is what turns a comparative into a superlative, and it is what English speakers leave out, because most beautiful has no article in it. The English article in the most beautiful belongs to the noun phrase; in French the article belongs to the superlative itself and appears even when there is already an article on the noun, which produces the doubled article that looks so odd at first. English usually puts the comparative before the noun; French puts it wherever the adjective goes. Since most French adjectives follow their noun, most French comparatives follow their noun too, and the article of the superlative goes with them, after the noun. So a superlative phrase can have an article at the front for the noun and another in the middle for the superlative. English never does this and it is a construction worth drilling. The three comparisons One pattern, three words in the first slot. Everything else is identical. Pattern What it says plus + adjective + que more … than — used for every adjective, however long moins + adjective + que less … than — English often prefers to reverse the adjective instead, which is why the glosses vary aussi + adjective + que as … as — note that the linking word is the same one, not a second copy of the first French English C'est plus cher que ça. [1] This is more expensive than that. Bilal est plus grand que Karam. [2] Bilal is taller than Karam. Es-tu plus jeune que lui ? [3] Are you younger than him? Elle est moins grande que moi. [4] She's shorter than me. Il est moins intelligent que moi. [5] He is less intelligent than me. Elle est moins belle que sa mère. [6] She is less beautiful than her mother is. Es-tu aussi grand que moi ? [7] Are you as tall as me? Cours aussi vite que possible. [8] Run as fast as possible (imperative, taught in 3.10). The first three are the pattern with the word meaning more . Compare their glosses: the first uses more plus an adjective, and the second and third use an ending on the adjective instead. Three French sentences built identically, three English sentences built two different ways. This is the sense in which French is easier: you never have to choose. The fourth and fifth show something about translation rather than about French. Both use the word meaning less , and the