german_sentence_builder
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Positive<br />
Unser Haus ist klein.<br />
Die Schule ist groß.<br />
Comparative<br />
Unser Haus ist kleiner.<br />
Die Schule ist größer.<br />
Superlative<br />
Unser Haus ist am kleinsten.<br />
Die Schule ist am größten.<br />
Our house is little.<br />
The school is big.<br />
Our house is littler.<br />
The school is bigger.<br />
Our house is the littlest.<br />
The school is the biggest.<br />
But when a comparative or superlative adjective is declined, just like a positive adjective it<br />
must have the appropriate adjective endings:<br />
Positive<br />
Der alte Mann ist krank. (nom.)<br />
Kennst du den jungen Mann? (acc.)<br />
Comparative<br />
Er hilft dem älteren Mann. (dat.)<br />
Das ist der Pass des jüngeren Mannes.<br />
(gen.)<br />
Superlative<br />
Es ist für den ältesten Mann. (acc.)<br />
Der jüngste Mann muss hier bleiben.<br />
(nom.)<br />
The old man is sick.<br />
Do you know the young man?<br />
He helps the older man.<br />
That’s the younger man’s passport.<br />
It’s for the oldest man.<br />
The youngest man must remain here.<br />
Adverbs in the positive and comparative forms require no endings. But in the superlative,<br />
they appear in a prepositional phrase introduced by am:<br />
Positive<br />
Erik arbeitet schnell.<br />
Warum fährt der Zug langsam?<br />
Comparative<br />
Kannst du nicht schneller arbeiten?<br />
Der Ausländer spricht langsamer.<br />
Superlative<br />
Sabine läuft am schnellsten.<br />
Der Junge schreibt am langsamsten.<br />
Erik works fast.<br />
Why is the train moving slowly?<br />
Can’t you work faster?<br />
The foreigner speaks more slowly.<br />
Sabine runs the fastest.<br />
The boy writes the slowest.<br />
Adjectives and adverbs that have an umlaut vowel (a, o, or u) often require an umlaut on that<br />
vowel in the comparative and superlative.<br />
A note of caution: English has two ways of forming the comparative and superlative. One is<br />
similar to the German (big, bigger, biggest). The other way is to precede an adjective or adverb<br />
with the words more or most. This happens when the English adjective or adverb is a long word<br />
or comes from a foreign source. For example:<br />
interesting more interesting most interesting<br />
ridiculous more ridiculous most ridiculous<br />
superficial more superficial most superficial<br />
Antonyms and contrasts 117
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