A2 · Adjectives · about 4 minutes
Comparing things: so wie, als
so groß wie, größer als
Equality takes wie, difference takes als, and mixing them is the commonest mistake German speakers make too.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 2 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need1
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- nervösnervous
Missing a word? Look it up in the dictionary
Understand
RememberSame is wie, different is als.
- Signal words
- so
- wie
- als
- je
- desto
- immer
- mehr
- weniger
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in German.
negation
| equal | so groß wie |
| unequal | größer als |
| not as … as | nicht so teuer wie |
| irregular | gut → besser, viel → mehr, gern → lieber |
| je … desto | Je mehr, desto besser. |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
Equality uses so … wie.
Sie ist so alt wie ich.She is the same age as me.
The comparative uses als.
Er ist jünger als sein Bruder.He is younger than his brother.
German always builds the comparative with -er, never with mehr.
Das ist interessanter.That is more interesting.
je … desto links two comparatives, and desto starts a main clause with the verb second.
Je früher, desto besser.The earlier the better.
Example sentences
Der Zug ist schneller als das Auto.The train is faster than the car.
Heute ist es nicht so kalt wie gestern.It is not as cold today as yesterday.
Es wird immer dunkler.It is getting darker and darker.
8 more example sentences
Ich trinke lieber Tee als Kaffee.I prefer tea to coffee.
Je länger ich warte, desto nervöser werde ich.The longer I wait, the more nervous I get.
Das Buch ist besser als der Film.The book is better than the film.
Sie arbeitet mehr als ich.She works more than I do.
Dieses Zimmer ist am hellsten.This room is the brightest.
Es ist genauso teuer wie vorher.It is exactly as expensive as before.
Je öfter man übt, desto sicherer wird man.The more often you practise, the more confident you get.
Am liebsten esse ich Fisch.What I like best is fish.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
This is the mistake German speakers themselves are corrected for, which makes it a bad one to copy from the street. Wie after a comparative is widespread in speech in several regions and is not accepted in writing or in an exam. The rule is clean: same, wie; different, als.
Quick check
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Practise
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Your progress
What your lesson on this topic shows:
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
German compares two things in two ways. When they are equal, it is so … wie: Er ist so groß wie ich. When they are not, the comparative takes als: Er ist größer als ich. One word for sameness, another for difference, and they are never interchangeable.
The comparative itself is built with -er, and unlike English there is no "more" option: interessanter, never "mehr interessant", however long the adjective is. Three of the commonest adjectives are irregular — gut → besser, viel → mehr, gern → lieber — and many short ones take an umlaut: alt → älter, groß → größer, jung → jünger.
For gradual change German doubles the comparative with immer: immer besser, immer schwieriger. And for two things changing together it uses je … desto: Je mehr ich lerne, desto leichter wird es.
A closer look
The superlative, and why it has two forms
German has two superlatives. Before a noun it is an ordinary adjective with an ending: der schnellste Zug. Standing alone after a verb it takes the am … -sten form: Dieser Zug ist am schnellsten. Both are needed and neither replaces the other.
The -est- form appears where the stem would otherwise be unpronounceable: am ältesten, am kürzesten. And the same three irregulars return: am besten, am meisten, am liebsten — the last of which is the everyday way to say what you like most.
Exceptions and special cases2
Exception
When the comparative stands before a noun
then it takes an adjective ending on top of the -er.
ein größeres Hausa bigger house
Why? It is still an adjective and still agrees.
Exception
When the adjective ends in -el, or in -er after au or eu
then an e drops out in the comparative.
teuer → teurer, dunkel → dunklerexpensive → more expensive
Why? Three unstressed syllables in a row are avoided.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
wie also asks how
The same word is the question word for manner: Wie geht es dir?, Wie heißt du? That is one reason the comparison mistake is so easy to make — wie is already the everyday word for "how" and "as", and it simply does not extend to "than".
Worth knowing
immer plus comparative has no English equivalent
English doubles the word — "bigger and bigger" — while German puts immer in front: immer größer. It is shorter, it is the only form used, and it works with any comparative including the irregular ones: immer besser, immer mehr.
The verbs on this page, in every form: sein · werden · warten · trinken