A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a

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12/8/2017
Unit: 6: Conjunctions, comparatives
4. Comparison of Adjectives
Up to this point we have only dealt with adjectives in the positive form, e.g., klein –
“small,” rot – “red,” etc. Now we shall consider the comparative and superlative
forms of adjectives, e.g., “smaller,” “redder,” and “smallest,” “reddest.”
Comparative
The German form of the comparative is more consistent than that of English. In
English, sometimes we use the word “more” to signal a comparison (example:
“more consistent”), and sometimes we add a suffix –er (example: greener).
German simply adds an –er– to all its adjectives. Thus, the comparative of grün
(green) is grüner, that of konsequent (consistent) is konsequenter. Note that on
adjectives with the vowels a, o and u, an umlaut is usually added in the
comparative form. For example, groß (big) becomes größer (bigger), schwarz
(black) becomes schwärzer (blacker).
As far as sentence constructions go, German uses the comparative form of
adjectives in much the same way as English. For example:
With als (than):
Der Stille Ozean ist größer als die Atlantik.
The Pacific Ocean is bigger than the Atlantic.
With je and desto or umso:
Je älter ich werde, desto weiser bin ich.
The older I become, the wiser I am.
Je reicher er wird, umso öfter fährt er in Urlaub.
The richer he gets, the more often he travels on vacation.
But it has some other uses, too:
With immer: