Understanding Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

In English grammar, adjectives can be used to compare people, places, things, or ideas. Comparative adjectives compare two things, while superlative adjectives compare three or more things and show the highest or lowest degree of a quality.

What Are Comparative Adjectives?

Comparative adjectives are used when comparing two people, objects, or situations. They usually show that one thing has more or less of a quality than another.

Examples:

My car is faster than yours.
This book is more interesting than that one.
Today is colder than yesterday.

How to Form Comparative Adjectives

Rule	Example
One-syllable adjectives: add -er	tall → taller fast → faster
Adjectives ending in -y: change y to i + er	happy → happier easy → easier
Long adjectives: use more	beautiful → more beautiful expensive → more expensive

What Are Superlative Adjectives?

Superlative adjectives are used to compare three or more things. They show that something has the highest or lowest degree of a quality.

Examples:

Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
This is the most beautiful place I have visited.
She is the best student in the class.

How to Form Superlative Adjectives

Rule	Example
One-syllable adjectives: add -est	tall → tallest fast → fastest
Adjectives ending in -y: change y to i + est	happy → happiest easy → easiest
Long adjectives: use most	beautiful → most beautiful expensive → most expensive

Comparative and Superlative Examples

Base Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
small	smaller	smallest
big	bigger	biggest
happy	happier	happiest
beautiful	more beautiful	most beautiful
interesting	more interesting	most interesting

Irregular Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Some adjectives do not follow normal rules and have special forms.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
good	better	best
bad	worse	worst
far	farther/further	farthest/furthest
little	less	least
many/much	more	most

Using Than and The

Comparative adjectives are usually followed by than, while superlative adjectives usually use the.

My house is bigger than yours.
She is the tallest person in the group.

Common Mistakes With Comparatives and Superlatives

Incorrect	Correct
She is more taller than me.	She is taller than me.
This is the most fastest car.	This is the fastest car.
He is more better now.	He is better now.

Exercises and Practice

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the adjective:

My brother is _____ than me. (tall)
This is the _____ movie I have seen. (good)
Today is _____ than yesterday. (cold)
She is the _____ student in the class. (smart)

Learning comparative and superlative adjectives helps learners describe differences and make clear comparisons in everyday English conversations and writing.