Comparative and superlative adverbs in French

• Use comparatives with adverbs to describe how someone or something does an action ‘more or less … than’ or ‘as … as’ someone or something else.

• Plus … que means ‘more … than’, moins … que means ‘less … than’ and aussi … que means ‘as … as’.

• To say ‘better than’, use mieux que.

• Higher Tier - to say that someone or something does something ‘the most’ (eg quickly) or ‘the least’ (eg often), etc, use superlatives with adverbs.

• Higher Tier - le plus means ‘the most’, le moins means ‘the least’ and le mieux means ‘the best’.

Use comparatives with adverbs to describe how someone or something does an action more or less (eg quickly) than, or as (eg quietly) as someone or something else.

Plus … que means ‘more … than’, moins … que means ‘less … than’ and aussi … que means ‘as … as’.

For example:

Je vais au gymnase plus souvent que toi. – I go to the gym more often than you do.

Ma mère parle moins rapidement que mon père. – My mum speaks less quickly than my dad.

Il travaille aussi dur que moi. – He works as hard as I do.

To form a sentence using a comparison with an adverb, use the following structure:

Remember

When comparing using adverbs, the following apply:

• Adverbs do not have to agree with the nouns.

• To say ‘than I do’ or ‘as you do’, etc, use stressed pronouns moi, toi, etc.

For example:

He cooks better than I do - Il cuisine mieux que moi.

She plays better than I do - Elle joue mieux que moi.

To say ‘better than’, use mieux que.

For example:

Tu parles français mieux que moi. – You speak French better than I do.

Practise what you’ve learned about comparative adverbs with this quiz.

To say that someone or something does something the most (eg quickly) or the least (eg often), use superlatives with adverbs.

Le plus means ‘the most’, and le moins means ‘the least’. You do not need to agree the article or adverb – it is always le and the adverb stays the same.

For example:

Elle court le plus rapidement. – She runs the most quickly/the quickest.

Mes amis parlent le moins souvent en classe. – My friends speak the least often in class.

To say someone or something does something ‘the best’, use le mieux.

For example:

Il chante le mieux de la classe. – He sings the best in the class.

Les enfants apprennent le mieux les langues étrangères. – Children learn foreign languages the best.

Practise what you’ve learned about superlative adverbs with this quiz for Higher Tier.

Now you’ve learned about comparative and superlative adverbs in French, why not explore indirect object pronouns?