How to compare things in German
How to compare things in german using comparatives and superlatives. (And Jens talks about his speed-dates)
Hold onto your Bratwürste, you're about to learn...
- Lots of adjectives (describing words)
- How to compare two things
- How to say something is the best in its category
Jens has a new burst of confidence after the speed-dating event. He is sure that all three girls liked him a lot.
Now he has to decide which of the ladies he wants to take on a real date. Who is the most intelligent? Who is the strongest? And above all (for Jens), who is the richest?
Before we hear Jens's decision, we need to learn how make comparisons in German.
So let's take a look.
Making comparisons
There are two types of comparisons. You can compare two things and say that one thing is better, faster, bigger than something else. Or you can say that something is the best, the fastest, the biggest of all.
Let’s start with the first type of comparison. To compare two things in German, you have to to two things:
- Add –er to the end of the adjective to make it mean more/greater.
- AND put the word als (than) after the adjective.
That works for a lot of adjectives. However, many one-syllable adjectives also add an umlaut to the vowel:
(strong)
(stronger)
Grandma is stronger than Jens.
How to say something is the greatest
To say something is the greatest, the biggest, the tallest, etc., follow these steps:
- Add –sten to the end of the adjective. (If the adjective ends in t or z, add -esten.)
- AND put the word am before the adjective.
- Again, watch out for those pesky umlauts in some of the one-syllable adjectives!
(dark)
(darkest)
My hair is the darkest.
(short)
(shortest)
The pencil is the shortest.
Ok! Now we're ready to hear what Jens thought of his dates!
Jens compares the ladies
After spending only a few minutes with each woman, Jens already has some interesting observations.
He has ranked the ladies based on the attributes he thinks are most important in a girlfriend. (And looking at his list, we’re starting to get a better picture of why Jens isn't very lucky in love.)
Here's what Jens is looking for. Just for fun, see if you can guess what each of these adjectives mean in English. Then click on each to see if you guessed right!
So how do the three ladies stack up? Listen to Jens’s observations.
On intelligence...
On strength...
On prettiness...
On tallness...
On loudness...
On hairiness...
Lastly (and arguably most important for Jens), how rich are these ladies? Let's flip things around: See if you can figure out how Jens is going to say each of these, and then click each one for the answer.
On richness...
Jens decides who is best
So Jens, which of your speed-dates did you like best?
(Watch out, this comparison for good/better/best doesn’t quite follow the rules, but you'll probably find it very familiar nonetheless!)
So Jens has chosen the least intelligent, hairiest, loudest, tallest, richest lady. Cue the romantic music and light the candles! We can’t wait to see how this date turns out!
