Comparative and Superlative Forms

As a grammatical term, the word comparison has a special meaning. Many adjectives and adverbs express qualities that can be compared in intensity: blue, bluer, bluest; sweetly, more sweetly, most sweetly.

As in English, the German adjective has three levels of gradation. The first one is called 'positive' (just plain "x"), the second 'comparative' ("more x") and the third 'superlative' ("most x").

We have taught you everything you ever wanted to know about the so-called positive forms of the adjectives in the last chapter.

In this chapter, we introduce you to the comparative and the superlative forms.

The declension of the adjectives in the comparative and superlative forms follows the same rules we have learned for the adjective in their positive form in the last chapter.

That is: the predicate adjective has only one form (which is the same as the adverb). You might think of this as the standard or dictionary form.

Adjectives preceding nouns are declined: adjectives preceded by determiners take weak endings, but adjectives without determiners take strong endings.

The standard or dictionary form for the comparative--the form used as an adverb or predicate adjective-- is formed by adding -er to the standard positive form. For the superlative adverb, the standard form consists of the preposition "am" plus the adjective base form to which -sten or -esten (-st or -est + the case ending -en) has been added:

herrlich	herrlicher	am herrlichsten
intelligent	intelligenter	am intelligentesten
modisch	modischer	am modischsten
schnell	schneller	am schnellsten

Adjectives whose base forms end in the consonants -d, -t, -s, -ß, -x, -z as well as in the suffix -los or -haft add an -e before the -st for easier pronunciation.

Umlaut in Comparison of Adjectives

Remember the umlaut? Remember the way vowels in the stem of a word show changes based on the way the endings were pronounced hundreds of years ago? Well, it affects the comparative and superlative of some adjectives.

The -er or -est of the ending used to be an -ir or -ist in an earlier stage of German. The umlaut shows up in older adjectives with a, o, or u in the stem. If the stem has more than one syllable, though, that may "protect" the stem vowel from umlaut, so you usually see it only in older one-syllable adjectives. As usual, irregularities like these are preserved because these words are used all the time.

Here is a list of the most common adjectives with an umlaut of the stem vowel:

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
groß	größer	am größten
alt	älter	am ältesten
klug	klüger	am klügsten
hart	härter	am härtesten
kalt	kälter	am kältesten
lang	länger	am längsten
stark	stärker	am stärksten
warm	wärmer	am wärmsten
jung	jünger	am jüngsten
schwach	schwächer	am schwächsten
kurz	kürzer	am kürzesten
arm	ärmer	am ärmsten
schwarz	schwärzer	am schwärzesten

Irregular Comparisons

As usual there are some special or irregular forms:

a. Certain old and distinguished words get their comparative and superlative stem from a completely different word than the "positive" form. Some of these have English cognates:

Some don't:

b. Adjectives ending in -el drop the -e of the ending in the comparative form.

c. The adjectives hoch and nah change not only the stem vowel but also the consonant before the comparative or superlative suffix:

d. In adjectives which are compounded of two adjectives, usually only the second one appears in a graduated form: