Comparing adjectives in French

Comparing adjectives in French

Comparing adjectives in French: the comparative

When we talk about "the comparative" in grammar, we mean describing someone or something in relation to someone or something else. "How tall is John? Well, I don't know exactly but I know he is taller than Mary!"

Comparing adjectives: the comparative

"Taller" is the comparative form of the adjective "tall". [We will discuss "tallest", the superlative form, later on.]

Comparing adjectives in French: the comparative

Note the structure of the sentence: "John is taller than Mary." 

The comparative structure in French

The French equivalent of the sentence on the previous slide is "Jean est plus grand que Marie."
Note: there is no "one-word" equivalent for most adjectives in French. Here, the equivalent of the "-er" in French is "plus". The equivalent of "than" is "que". 

Jean est plus grand que Marie. 

John is taller than Mary.  (Note the spelling of the adjective "grand".)

Sophie est plus grande que Jérôme. 

Sophie is taller than Jerome. (Note the spelling of the adjective "grande". 

Marie est plus petite que Jean.

Mary is shorter that John. (Note the spelling of the adjective "petite" in the French sentence.)

Jean est plus petit que Marie. 

John is shorter than Mary. 

Comparing adjectives using "plus", "moins", and "aussi". 

You have seen a few examples with "plus" already. Let's look at a few using "moins". 

Marie est moins grande que Jean. 

"moins grande" =  "less tall" or "shorter"

Jérôme est moins grand que Marie. 

Sarah est aussi petite que Sanyaa. 

Sarah is (just) as tall as Sanyaa. 

Philippe est aussi sportif que Frédéric.

Philippe is (just) as athletic as Frédéric. 

Claire est aussi contente que Catherine.

Claire is (just) as happy as Catherine.