Comparing with adjectives in English: -er, more, the most

To compare two things in English, add “-er” to short adjectives and follow it with “than”: “My brother is taller than me.” With long adjectives, put “more” before the adjective: “This book is more interesting than the film.” For the extreme in a group, use “the -est” or “the most”: “the tallest”, “the most interesting”.

Short or long?

One-syllable adjectives take “-er/-est”: cold → colder → the coldest. Two-syllable adjectives ending in “-y” change “y” to “i”: happy → happier → the happiest. Other two-syllable and longer adjectives take “more/the most”: modern → more modern, expensive → the most expensive. If you're unsure, “more” is usually understood, but “more cold” is not used with one-syllable adjectives.

Spelling and irregular adjectives

Short adjectives ending in one vowel and one consonant double the last letter: big → bigger, hot → hottest. Those ending in “-e” just add “-r/-st”: nice → nicer. The irregular ones need to be learned: good → better → the best, bad → worse → the worst, far → further → the furthest.

Equality: as … as

When two things are equal, use “as + adjective + as”: “Today the sea is as warm as the pool.” The negative is a soft way to show a difference: “The new phone isn't as fast as the old one.” It matches the Turkish word “kadar”.

A short exercise

Choose three people from your family or friends and write one comparative sentence about each (“My sister is younger than…”). Then write two sentences about your town with “the most” and “the -est”, and finish with one “not as … as” sentence.

To keep going, see Feelings and opposites in English and Weather and clothes: English words.

Frequently asked questions

Is it “than me” or “than I”? In everyday speech “than me” is the most common. “Than I am” is a more formal option.

What is the difference between “further” and “farther”? Both are used for distance; “farther” is more common in American English. “Further” also means “more”: “further information”.