Comparative and superlative of adjectives

What are comparative adjectives?

Take a look at these sentences:

 

• Martin is old. He’s older than his sister.
• Neptune is big. It’s bigger than Earth.
• Apple iPhones are expensive. They’re more expensive than most other phones.

 

Old, big, expensive are adjectives.
Older, bigger, more expensive are comparative forms.

What are superlative adjectives?

For examples of superlative forms, let’s look at these sentences:

 

• Jack is the oldest person in the village.
• Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system.
• The Beatles are probably the most popular band of all time.

 

The oldest, the biggest, the most popular are superlative forms.

Rules for forming comparatives and superlatives

Comparative, superlative adjectives: rules
Adjective type	Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
Short adjectives (one syllable)	old, long	older, longer	the oldest, the longest
Adjectives ending in one vowel + one consonant	big, hot	bigger, hotter	the biggest, the hottest
Two-syllable adjectives ending in –y	ugly, noisy, messy	uglier, noisier, messier	the ugliest, the noisiest, the messiest
Longer adjectives (with two or more syllables)	careful, expensive, beautiful	more careful, more expensive, more beautiful	the most careful, the most expensive, the most beautiful
With some two-syllable adjectives both –er and –est endings and more / most are possible.	polite, common	more polite / politer, more common / commoner	the most polite / the politest, the most common / the commonest
With some two-syllable adjectives only an –er or –est ending is possible.	narrow, simple, clever	narrower, simpler, cleverer	the narrowest, the simplest, the cleverest

 

Notable exceptions
good	better	the best
bad	worse	the worst
far	further / farther	the furthest / the farthest

Comparative adjectives and opposites

Here’s a list of some comparative adjectives and their opposites:

Adjective ➝ comparative	Opposite adjective ➝ comparative
old ➝ older	young ➝ younger
cheap ➝ cheaper	expensive ➝ more expensive
slow ➝ slower	fast ➝ faster
hot ➝ hotter	cold ➝ colder
warm ➝ warmer	cool ➝ cooler
rich ➝ richer	poor ➝ poorer
large ➝ larger	small ➝ smaller
high ➝ higher	low ➝ lower
interesting ➝ more interesting	boring ➝ more boring
safe ➝ safer	dangerous ➝ more dangerous
comfortable ➝ more comfortable	uncomfortable ➝ more uncomfortable
strong ➝ stronger	weak ➝ weaker
wide ➝ wider	narrow ➝ narrower
clever ➝ cleverer	stupid ➝ more stupid
deep ➝ deeper	shallow ➝ shallower
good ➝ better	bad ➝ worse
near ➝ nearer	far ➝ further (also farther)
tidy ➝ tidier	untidy ➝ more untidy (also untidier)
happy ➝ happier	unhappy ➝ more unhappy (also unhappier)