Comparatives and superlatives in French

• To compare two nouns in French, use plus … que (more … than), moins … que (less … than) or aussi … que (as … as).

• Adjectives in comparative sentences must agree with the first noun that is being compared.

• To say ‘better than’, use meilleur que, and to say ‘worse than’, use pire que.

• Higher Tier - Superlatives are used to say that something is 'the most' or 'least' (+ adjective).

• Higher Tier - Superlatives in French are le plus (the most) and le moins (the least) followed by an adjective, or le meilleur (the best) and le pire (the worst).

To compare two nouns, use the comparatives plus … que (more … than), moins … que (less … than) or aussi … que (as … as), like in the image below.

For example:

• Mon chat est plus grand que ton chien. – My cat is bigger than your dog.

• Le vélo est moins rapide que la voiture. – The bike is less fast than the car.

• Les maisons sont aussi belles que les appartements. – The houses are as beautiful as the apartments.

Remember

Adjectives need to agree with the first noun that is being compared. For example:

Ma sœur est plus intelligente que moi. – My sister is more intelligent than me.

Sœur (sister) is feminine and singular, so intelligente needs an e at the end.

‘Better’ and ‘worse’ are irregular comparatives:

bon (good) → meilleur (better)

mauvais (bad) → pire (worse)

For example:

Mes notes sont meilleures que l’année dernière. – My grades are better than last year.

Le temps était pire qu’en Algérie. – The weather was worse than in Algeria.

Practise what you've learned about comparing nouns in French with this quiz.

Use superlatives to say something is 'the most …' or 'the least …' eg interesting, the biggest/smallest or the best/worst.

Use the definite article, (le/la/les) then plus or moins.

The adjective must still agree with the noun.

For example, the superlatives of intéressant are:

‘Best’ and ‘worst’ are irregular superlatives in French.

For example:

Elle est la meilleure joueuse de foot dans notre collège. – She’s the best football player in our school.

C’était le pire moment de l’année. – It was the worst time of the year.

Ce sont les meilleures amies au monde. – They are the best friends (female) in the world.

Practise what you've learned about using superlatives in French with this quiz for Higher Tier.

Now you’ve learned about comparatives and superlatives, why not explore indefinite and negative adjectives in French?