Comparative Adjectives | Adjectives | Parts Of Speech | German

Comparative adjectives show how one thing is more, less, or sometimes equally a certain quality compared to another. German comparisons are straightforward but pay attention to adjective endings and word order.

To say something is more of a quality, add -er to the adjective for the comparative form, and use als to introduce the second thing. Adjectives stay in their base form for the comparative.

Positive German Word	Comparative German Word	English Word	English Comparative Word
schnell	schneller	fast	faster
groß	größer	big	bigger
stark	stärker	strong	stronger
klug	klüger	smart	smarter

Fill in the BlankDieses Auto ist(fast) als das andere.

This car is faster than the other.

Less

To say something is less of a quality, use weniger before the adjective and als for the comparison. The adjective stays in its normal form after weniger.

	German Phrase	English Phrase
	weniger schnell als	less fast than
	weniger groß als	less big than
	weniger stark als	less strong than
	weniger klug als	less smart than

More ... than

Use mehr before longer or compound adjectives, and als to compare. This works for adjectives that don't easily take the -er ending.

	German Phrase	English Phrase
	mehr interessant als	more interesting than
	mehr gefährlich als	more dangerous than
	mehr bequem als	more comfortable than
	mehr hilfreich als	more helpful than

Equal

To say two things are equal in a quality, use so ... wie. Place so before the adjective and wie after to link the comparison.

	German Phrase	English Phrase
	so schnell wie	as fast as
	so groß wie	as big as
	so stark wie	as strong as
	so klug wie	as smart as

Summary

Comparative adjectives use -er plus als for more, weniger plus als for less, mehr plus als for longer adjectives, and so ... wie for equal comparisons. Practice these patterns with familiar adjectives to compare things smoothly.

Last updated: Fri Oct 24, 2025