Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

• Comparative adjectives compare two things, people, or groups.
  • Example: A cat is faster than a mouse.
• Superlative adjectives compare three or more things, and show which one is at the highest or lowest degree.
  • Example: The cheetah is the fastest animal on land.

How to form them

1. Short adjectives (1 syllable)

Add -er for comparative, -est for superlative.

Special spelling rules:

• If it ends in e, just add -r / -st:
  • nice → nicer → nicest
  • large → larger → largest
• If it is consonant + vowel + consonant, double the last letter:
  • big → bigger → biggest
  • hot → hotter → hottest
  • thin → thinner → thinnest

2. Adjectives ending in -y (2 syllables)

Change y to i, then add -er / -est.

3. Long adjectives (2+ syllables, not ending in -y)

Use more for comparative, most for superlative.

Irregular adjectives

These do not follow any rule — you must memorize them.

Sentence patterns

Comparative

A + verb + comparative + than + B

• My brother is taller than me.
• This book is more interesting than that one.
• Tea is better than coffee, in my opinion.

Superlative

Subject + verb + the + superlative + in/of ...

• She is the tallest girl in her class.
• This is the most expensive phone of all.
• That was the best movie I have ever seen.

Tip: We usually use the before superlative adjectives.

Quick practice

Try to fill in the blanks:

1. cold → ________ (comparative) → ________ (superlative)
2. careful → ________ (comparative) → ________ (superlative)
3. bad → ________ (comparative) → ________ (superlative)