Comparative and superlative adjectives

We use comparative adjectives to show change or make comparisons:

We use than when we want to compare one thing with another:

When we want to describe how something or someone changes we can use two comparatives with and:

We often use the with comparative adjectives to show that one thing depends on another:

Superlative adjectives

We use the with superlative adjectives:

How to form comparative and superlative adjectives

We usually add –er and –est to one-syllable words to make comparatives and superlatives:

old	older	oldest
long	longer	longest

If an adjective ends in –e, we add –r or –st:

nice	nicer	nicest
large	larger	largest

If an adjective ends in a vowel and a consonant, we double the consonant:

big	bigger	biggest
fat	fatter	fattest

If an adjective ends in a consonant and –y, we change –y to –i and add –er or –est:

happy	happier	happiest
silly	sillier	silliest

We use more and most to make comparatives and superlatives for most two syllable adjectives and for all adjectives with three or more syllables:

careful	more careful	most careful
interesting	more interesting	most interesting

However, with these common two-syllable adjectives, you can either add –er/–r and –est/–st or use more and most:

The adjectives good, bad and far have irregular comparatives and superlatives: