Comparatives & Superlatives
Comparatives & Superlatives
English switches strategies as adjectives get longer: 'faster' but 'more interesting'. Dutch keeps adding -er however long the word is, so interessanter is a perfectly ordinary comparative.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
-er and -st attach to adjectives of any length
snel → sneller → snelst; interessant → interessanter → interessantst
fast → faster → fastest; interesting → more interesting → most interesting
English limits the -er/-est endings to short words and uses 'more/most' for longer ones. Dutch has no such cut-off: interessanter, gecompliceerder, aantrekkelijker are all normal. The words meer and meest do exist and are used with a small set of adjectives — mostly ones already ending in a vowel sound or a participle form (meer verbaasd) — but the ending is the default, so translating 'more X' word for word will usually be wrong.
dan for 'than', net zo ... als for 'as ... as'
Hij is groter dan ik. Zij is net zo groot als ik.
He is taller than me. She is as tall as I am.
Comparisons of inequality take dan, comparisons of equality take (net) zo ... als. Note that Dutch follows dan with the subject form in careful usage — groter dan ik — where English colloquially prefers the object form, 'taller than me'. In everyday spoken Dutch you will also hear als creeping in for dan; it is very common but still considered incorrect in writing.
Superlatives take het when used predicatively
Deze trein is het snelst. / de snelste trein
This train is the fastest. / the fastest train
In front of a noun the superlative behaves like a normal adjective with the definite article: de snelste trein, het mooiste huis. Standing alone after a verb, though, it takes het regardless of the subject's gender or number: Deze trein is het snelst, Deze bloemen zijn het mooist. English uses 'the' in both positions, so the het here is a small extra habit. The irregular forms are worth memorizing: goed/beter/best, veel/meer/meest, weinig/minder/minst, graag/liever/liefst.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- bigger / taller
- English
- smaller
- English
- faster
- English
- better
- English
- best
- English
- more
- English
- less / fewer
- English
- rather / preferably
- English
- than
- English
- as ... as
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