Comparative and Superlative

If French has a word for “more” and a word for “less” and a word for “as much as,” you have everything you need to compare anything to anything. The system is one of the simplest in the language. Three operators, two parts of speech they apply to (adjectives and adverbs), and three irregulars at the top.

The comparative

To compare two things, French uses three words plus que:

Marie est plus grande que Pierre. — Marie is taller than Pierre. Pierre est moins grand que Marie. — Pierre is less tall than Marie. Marie est aussi grande que sa sœur. — Marie is as tall as her sister.

Same pattern with adverbs:

Il parle plus vite que moi. — He speaks faster than me. Il parle moins clairement que son frère. — He speaks less clearly than his brother. Il parle aussi bien que toi. — He speaks as well as you.

For comparing quantities of nouns, plus de / moins de / autant de are used, followed by que:

J’ai plus de livres que toi. — I have more books than you. *Tu as **autant d’**amis **qu’*elle. — You have as many friends as she does. *Il y a moins de monde **qu’*hier. — There are fewer people than yesterday.

For verbs:

Je travaille plus que lui. — I work more than him. Elle parle autant que son mari. — She speaks as much as her husband.

The superlative

The superlative is built from the comparative by adding the appropriate definite article:

Marie est la plus grande. — Marie is the tallest. Pierre est le moins grand de la classe. — Pierre is the least tall in the class.

Note the de (or du, de la, des) for the in phrase: French says “the tallest of the class,” not “the tallest in the class.” This is one of the most common A2 errors.

C’est le plus beau livre du monde. — It’s the most beautiful book in the world. Elle est la plus intelligente de sa famille. — She is the most intelligent in her family.

For superlatives of adjectives that follow the noun, the structure repeats: le/la/les + noun + le/la/les plus + adjective.

C’est la maison la plus ancienne de Paris. — It’s the oldest house in Paris.

For pre-noun adjectives (the BAGS group from adjectifs), the article doesn’t repeat:

C’est le plus grand homme du siècle. — He’s the greatest man of the century.

For adverb superlatives, use the invariable le:

Elle court le plus vite. — She runs fastest. Il parle le moins. — He speaks the least.

The three irregulars

Three adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms. They are the most-used adjectives in French. Memorise them.

Cette tarte est meilleure que celle d’hier. — This tart is better than yesterday’s. La situation est pire que je pensais. — The situation is worse than I thought.

A few notes:

• Pire is the standard form. You may also see plus mauvais in some contexts; both are acceptable but pire is preferred when you mean worse.
• Moindre is mostly used in fixed expressions (c’est le moindre de mes soucis — it’s the least of my worries). For physical size, just say plus petit / le plus petit.

For the adverbs, the irregulars are different:

The most important pair is bon/meilleur (adjective) versus bien/mieux (adverb). English speakers conflate these constantly. Use meilleur with nouns: un meilleur livre (a better book). Use mieux with verbs: je vais mieux (I’m doing better). The famous Pangloss line tout est pour le mieux uses mieux (adverb-superlative) because it modifies the verb est.

Que vs. de in numerical comparisons

A specific rule worth flagging: when the second part of a comparison is a number, French uses de instead of que:

Plus de dix personnes sont venues. — More than ten people came. Il a moins de vingt ans. — He’s less than twenty years old.

Use que only when comparing two things directly (plus que moi, moins qu’elle).

What you don’t need to do

You don’t need to use moindre outside of fixed expressions. Plus petit is fine for everything physical. Save moindre for le moindre détail, la moindre idée.

You don’t need to translate as … as with the same construction every time. Aussi grand que works for adjectives, but autant que for verbs and autant de … que for nouns. Match the construction to the part of speech.

You don’t need to memorise the difference between meilleur and mieux through grammar. After enough reading, un meilleur livre and je vais mieux will sound right intuitively.

Common confusions

• Bon vs. bien. Bon is the adjective (good), bien is the adverb (well). Their irregulars match: meilleur (better, adjective), mieux (better, adverb).
• Que vs. de. Comparisons against another thing use que. Comparisons against a number use de. Plus que moi / Plus de dix.
• Le plus vs. les plus. The article agrees with the noun. La plus belle fille (feminine), les plus beaux livres (plural), le plus grand homme (masculine).
• Don’t say plus bon. It is meilleur, always. Plus bon doesn’t exist in standard French. Same with plus mauvais — it’s grudgingly accepted, but pire is preferred.

Where you’ll meet it in the library

Comparatives and superlatives appear in every paragraph of every novel. Especially visible in:

• Candide (B1) — Voltaire’s satire turns on the superlative le meilleur des mondes possibles. Pangloss is constantly comparing this world favourably to imagined alternatives, and the comparisons get more absurd as the catastrophes accumulate.
• Madame Bovary (B2) — Emma’s whole psychology is comparative. Charles is less than what she imagined; her lovers are more than her husband. The novel is a chain of comparatives.
• Le Petit Prince (A1) — superlatives of affection. Tu es la plus belle rose du monde. Saint-Exupéry uses the form for tender absolutes.
• Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (B2) — Dumas constructs the Count as the superlative of patience, fortune, intelligence. Whenever Edmond appears in a scene, he is the most of something.
• Les Trois Mousquetaires (B1) — comparison of swords, of women, of horses, of wine. The chivalric world runs on comparatives.