2.18 Comparison and the superlative — Epoché
What you will be able to do Form the comparative with -er and compare with als : Er ist größer als ich. Form the superlative with am … -sten and with the article: am größten , der größte Junge . Use the seven irregular comparisons, including gut — besser — am besten and gern — lieber — am liebsten . Say as … as with so … wie , more and more with immer , and the more … the better with je … desto . Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the German aloud; all of them come back below. German English Je mehr man über etwas weiß, desto interessanter wird es. [1] The more you know about something, the more interesting it becomes. Je weniger sie weiß, desto besser. [2] The less she knows, the better. Ich weiß nicht, ob er älter oder jünger ist als ich. [3] I don't know whether he's younger or older than me. Diese Geschichte ist weit interessanter als jene. [4] This story is far more interesting than that one. Diese Kamera ist weniger teuer als jene. [5] This camera is less expensive than that one. Komm ein wenig näher. [6] Come a bit closer. Ich will nicht noch älter werden. [7] I don’t want to get any older. Prerequisites : 2.17 — you need the adjective endings from 4.10 Cases and 4.11 Cases , because comparatives and superlatives before a noun take the same endings. Comparison is one of the places where German and English are closest. Both languages add -er and -est to an adjective, and many of the irregular forms are the same: good — better — best and gut — besser — am besten . German, however, uses the endings for every adjective, however long, has a special form am … -sten for the superlative after a verb, and adds the usual adjective endings when the comparative stands before a noun. Comparative and superlative Type Adjective Comparative Superlative regular klein kleiner am kleinsten regular, long interessant interessanter am interessantesten umlaut, one syllable alt, jung, warm, arm älter, jünger, wärmer, ärmer am ältesten, am jüngsten, am wärmsten, am ärmsten irregular gut besser am besten irregular viel mehr am meisten irregular gern lieber am liebsten irregular groß größer am größten irregular hoch höher am höchsten irregular nah näher am nächsten irregular bald eher am ehesten regular (also minder ) wenig weniger am wenigsten Three details complete the forms. After -d, -t, -s, -ß, -z the superlative adds -esten , for ease of pronunciation: am ältesten , am interessantesten . Many common one-syllable adjectives with a, o, u take an umlaut, but not all: klar and voll do not. Learn the umlaut with the adjective. Before a noun, the comparative and the superlative take the normal adjective endings: der größte Junge , die beste Lösung , das höchste Gebäude . In real sentences The comparative with als . German English Er ist größer als ich. [8] He's taller than I am. Er ist älter als du. [9] He's older than you. Er ist jünger als ich. [10] He is younger than me. Er ist besser als ich. [11] He is better than me. Du isst mehr als ich. [12] You eat more than I do. Diese Mauer ist höher als jene. [13] This wall is taller than that one. Ich mag Rind lieber als Lamm. [14] I like beef more than lamb. Equality: so … wie . German English Er ist so groß wie ich. [15] He's as tall as me. Er ist nicht so groß wie du. [16] He's not as tall as you are. The superlative after a verb: am … -sten . This form is used when the superlative stands after sein or describes how something is done. German English Du bist am größten. [17] You are tallest. Wer kann am besten singen? [18] Who sings the best? Das mag ich am liebsten. [19] That's what I like most. Das will ich am meisten. [20] That's what I want most. The superlative with the article. German English Er ist der größte Junge. [21] He is the tallest boy. Das Gebäude ist das höchste in Japan. [22] That building is the tallest in Japan. Growing and proportional comparisons. German English Du wirst immer besser. [23] You're getting better and better. Es wird wärmer. [24] It's getting warmer. Je früher, desto besser. [25] The sooner, the better. Je mehr man weiß, umso weniger weiß man. [26] The more you know, the less you know. How English does it The same endings, used without exception. English -er and -est are the same suffixes as German -er and -st . English uses them only for short adjectives and switches to more and most for long ones: more interesting . German never switches: interessanter , am interessantesten . Saying mehr interessant is a typical English speaker's error. The irregular forms are cousins. Good — better — best is gut — besser — am besten ; much — more — most is viel — mehr — am meisten , with the same m forms; the old English series nigh — near — next matches nah — näher — am nächsten , which explains why nächste means next . English once had umlaut in comparatives too, and still does in old — elder — eldest , the cousin of alt — älter — am ältesten . Than is als , never dann . English than and then were once the same word, as were German denn and dann . In modern German the word after a comparative is als . In regional speech you will hear wie instead, größer wie ich , but in standard German that is an error. Than me is als ich . English speakers usually say he's taller than me , with the object pronoun, and keep than I am for careful speech. German has no such choice. The pronoun after als and wie stands in the same case as the word it is compared with, which is normally the subject, so it is nominative: Er ist größer als ich , Er ist so groß wie ich . You can check this by completing the sentence in your head: he is taller than I am tall . Only when the comparison is between two objects does the pronoun go into the accusative or dative, and such sentences are rare. The comparative before a noun needs two endings. When a comparative stands before a noun, it keeps its -er and then adds the ordinary adjective ending from 4.10 Cases and 4.11 Cases , so that two similar syllables follow each other. A bigger house is literal