Adjectives 1: Types, comparative & superlative

Types of adjectives:

• Attibutive adjectives (attributive Adjektive) come before nouns and are declined.
• Predicative adjectives (prädikative Adjektive) are used after the verbs sein (be), bleiben (stay) and werden (become) and are NOT declined.
• Adverbial adjectives (adverbiale Adjektive) are used with all the other verbs and describe how an action is performed. Equivalent to adverbs like softly, loudly, gredily, etc.

Comparative adjectives (Steigerungsformen)

Basic (positive Form)

German Expression	English Equivalent	Example in German	Example in English
so ... wie	as ... as	So groß wie ein Haus.	As big as a house.
gleich ... wie	as ... as (with equality)	Gleich schnell wie der andere.	As fast as the other.
genauso ... wie	just as ... as	Genauso alt wie ich.	Just as old as I am.
nicht so ... wie	not as ... as	Nicht so groß wie ein Baum.	Not as big as a tree.
fast so ... wie	almost as ... as	Fast so schnell wie ein Gepard.	Almost as fast as a cheetah.
doppelt so ... wie	twice as ... as	Doppelt so teuer wie das andere.	Twice as expensive as the other.
halb so ... wie	half as ... as	Halb so lang wie der Tisch.	Half as long as the table.

Comparative (der Komparativ) 

• Comparison of Superiority = adjective-er + als
• Er ist netter als ich. (He is nicer than me.)
• Comparison of Inferiority = weniger + adjective + als
• Er ist weniger nett als ich. (He is less nice than me.)

*Spelling rules: 

• One-syllable adjectives often take an umlaut: alt → älter (old → older)
• The e of the unstressed ending el/bel is removed: edel →  edler (precious → more precious). But if it's stressed: originell → origineller (original → more original).
• Diese Idee ist origineller als deine. (This idea is more original than yours. Esta idea es más original que la tuya.)
• Dieser Baum ist älter als ich. (This tree is older than me. Este árbol es más viejo que yo.)
• Ehrlichkeit ist edler als jede Lüge. (Honesty is nobler than any lie. La honestidad es más noble que cualquier mentira.)

Comparatives with je ... desto and je ... umso (the ... the)

The je is a subordinate clause; the verb comes at the end of the clause.

The desto / umso is the main caluse; the verb comes after the comparative.

E.g:

Je mehr du übst, desto besser wirst du. (The more you practice, the better you will get.)

Je älter ich werde, umso mehr schätze ich Ruhe. (The older I get, the more I appreciate peace.)

Superlative (der Superlativ)

• Predicative adjectives: am + adjective -sten
• Der Zug fährt am schnellsten. (The train is the fastest.)
• Attibutive adjectives: der, die, das + adjective-st + the declension ending.
• Das ist die kleinste Katze. (That's the smallest cat.)
• Das ist das schnellste Auto. (That's the fastest car.)

*Spelling rule: add an extra e to adjectives that end in d/t or s/ß/x/z:

E.g:

Welches Tier ist das wildeste im Dschungel?  (Which animal is the wildest in the jungle?)

Heute ist es am heißesten von allen Tagen diese Woche. (Today it is the hottest of all the days this week.)

Die Musik in diesem Club ist am lautesten. (The music in this club is the loudest.)

Exception: Das ist der größte Baum. (That's the biggest tree.)

This rules doesn't apply to participles that end in -d.

Irregular forms

Basic (German)	Comparative (German)	Superlative (German)	English Translation
gut	besser	best-	good / better / best
viel	mehr	meist-	much / more / most
nah	näher	nächst-	near / nearer / nearest
hoch	höher	höchst-	high / higher / highest
groß	größer	größt-	big / bigger / biggest

///Not related. I didn't know the difference between "attributives Adjektiv" and "attributive Adjektive". Here it is: The correct form is "attributives Adjektiv" in the singular, but in the plural form, it should be "attributive Adjektive". So, if you're referring to one attributive adjective, you'd say "attributives Adjektiv" (singular), and for more than one, "attributive Adjektive" (plural).

Comparative and Superative Quiz
Basic (positive Form) Quiz
Irregular forms Quiz