The Comparative

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The Comparative
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The Comparative of adjectives in English.
To form the comparative of an adjective, English
adds -er to shorter words ("prettier") or places
more in front of more complicated ones ("more
beautiful").
Examples Adjective Comparative nice
nicer Interesting more interesting handsome more
handsome
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The Comparative of adjectives in German.
No matter how long the adjective or adverb,
German always adds -er ("schöner",
"interessanter"). Never use mehr for this
purpose. Adjective endings follow the -er.
Examples Adjective Comparative nett
(nice) netter (nicer) Interessant
(interesting) interessanter (more
interesting) hübsch (handsome) hübscher (more
handsome)
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Some adjectives, almost always monosyllabic with
an a, o or u, add an umlaut.
Adjective Comparative arm (poor) ärmer
(poorer) klug (clever) klüger (cleverer) scharf
(sharp) schärfer (sharper) jung
(young) jünger (younger) schwach
(weak) schwächer (weaker) kurz (short) kürzer
(shorter)
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Adjectives ending in -el or -er normally drop the
-e- before the comparative -er
Adjective Comparative dunkel (dark) dunkler
(darker) teuer (expensive) teurer (more
expensive)
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Some adjectives change their stems in other ways,
as well
Adjective Comparative gut (good) besser
(better) hoch (high) höher (higher) viel
(much) mehr (more) bald (soon) eher (sooner)
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als - than
If you are comparing two things in German, you
will use als than.
Examples Die Maus ist kleiner als der Hund.
Das Pferd ist schneller als die
Katze. Biologie ist interessanter als
Geschichte.
The mouse is smaller than the dog.
The horse is faster than the cat.
Biology is more interesting than History.