French Language > Comparisons

Degrees of Comparison
Or, Comparisons Compared

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There are three degrees of comparison:

• positive
  the “zero” level: “charming”
• comparative
  + : “more charming”
  – : “less charming”
  = : “as charming”
• superlative
  + : “the most charming”
  – : “the least charming”

They occur with:

• Adverbs
• Adjectives
• Nouns
• Numbers
• Verbs

I. Adverbs

Positive (0)

• Jeanne combat furieusement. (Joan fights furiously.)

Comparative (+, =, –)

• Jeanne combat plus furieusement que Charles. (Joan fights more furiously than Charles.)
• Jeanne combat aussi furieusement qu’Édouard. (Joan fights as furiously as Edward.)
• Jeanne combat moins furieusement que Marianne. (Joan fights less furiously than Marianne.)

Superlative (+, –)

• Jeanne combat le plus furieusement de toute l’armée. (Joan fights the most furiously in the whole army.)
• Charles combat le moins furieusement de toute l’armée. (Charles fights the least furiously in the whole army.)

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II. Adjectives

A. Predicate Position

Positive (0)

• Jeanne est courageuse. (Joan is brave.)

Comparative (+, =, –)

• Jeanne est plus courageuse que Charles. (Joan is braver [more brave] than Charles.)
• Jeanne est aussi courageuse qu’Édouard. (Joan is as brave as Edward.)
• Jeanne est moins courageuse que Marianne. (Joan is less brave than Marianne.)

Superlative (+, –)

• Jeanne est la plus courageuse de toute l’armée. (Joan is the bravest in the whole army.)
• Jeanne est la moins pusillanime de toute l’armée. (Joan is the least cowardly in the whole army.)

B. Attributive Position

1. When the Adjective Follows the Noun

Positive (0)

• Jeanne est une femme courageuse. (Joan is a brave woman.)

Comparative (+, =, –)

• Jeanne est une femme plus courageuse qu’Agnès. (Joan is a braver woman than Agnes.)
• Jeanne est une femme aussi courageuse que Marie. (Joan is as brave a woman as Marie.)
• Jeanne est une femme moins courageuse que Marianne. (Joan is less brave than Marianne.)

Superlative (+, –)

• Jeanne est la femme la plus courageuse de toute l’armée. (Joan is the bravest woman in the whole army.)
• Jeanne est la femme la moins pusillanime de toute l’armée. (Joan is the least cowardly woman in the whole army.)

 2. When the Adjective Precedes the Noun

A few qualifying adjectives normally precede the noun (bon, jeune, nouveau, beau, etc.). In the comparative and superlative degrees, you can put these in either position.

Positive (0)

• un jeune soldat (a young soldier)

Comparative (+, =, –)

• un plus jeune soldat or un soldat plus jeune (a younger soldier)

Superlative (+, –)

• le plus jeune soldat or le soldat le plus jeune (the youngest soldier)

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III. Nouns

Positive (0)

• Jeanne a des soldats. (Joan has soldiers.)

Comparative (+, =, –)

Count Noun:

• Jeanne a plus de soldats que Gilles. (Joan has more soldiers than Giles.)
• Jeanne a autant de soldats que Robert. (Joan has as many soldiers as Robert.)
• Jeanne a moins de soldats qu’Édouard. (Joan has fewer soldiers than Edward.)

Non-Count Noun:

• Jeanne a plus de talent que Gilles. (Joan has more talent than Giles.)
• Jeanne a autant d’argent que Robert. (Joan has as much money as Robert.)
• Jeanne a moins de patience qu’Édouard. (Joan has less patience than Edward.)

Superlative (+, –)

• Les soldats de Jeanne ont le plus d’armes blanches. (Joan’s soldiers have the most cutting weapons.)
• Les soldats de Jeanne ont le moins d’armes à feu. (Joan’s soldiers have the fewest fire-arms.)

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IV. Numbers

Positive (0)

• Jeanne a cent (100) soldats. (Joan has one hundred soldiers.)

Comparative (+,  –)

• Jeanne a plus de cent (100) soldats. (Joan has more than one hundred soldiers.)
• Jeanne a moins de cent (100) soldats. (Joan has less than one hundred soldiers.)

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V. Verbs

Positive (0)

• Jeanne prie. (Joan prays.)

Comparative (+, =, –)

• Jeanne prie plus qu’Agnès. (Joan prays more than Agnes.)
• Jeanne prie autant que Catherine. (Joan prays as much as Catherine.)
• Jeanne prie moins que Marie. (Joan prays less than Marianne.)

Superlative (+, –)

• Jeanne prie le plus de toute l’armée. (Joan prays the most in the whole army.)
• Jeanne dort le moins de toute l’armée. (Joan sleeps the least in the whole army.)

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VI. Synthetic Forms

In English, comparative forms can be

• analytic: “more lovely” (“less lovely, as lovely”); “most lovely” (“least lovely)
• synthetic: “lovelier” (“uglier”); “loveliest” (“ugliest”)

French has only analytic forms:

• plus beau, moins beau, aussi beau; le plus beau, le moins beau

—except for a very few French words (two adjectives and their corresponding adverbs), which have synthetic comparatives:

• adjective: bon (good), meilleur (better), le meilleur (best)
• adverb: bien (well), mieux (better), le mieux (best)
• adjective: mauvais (bad), pire (worse), le pire (worst)
• adverb: mal (ill, badly), pis (worse), le pis (worst)

There is also a synthetic comparative adjective moindre (less, lesser) corresponding to the adverb moins:

• Les autres objections sont de moindre importance. (The other objections are of less importance.)

Stick a definite article in front of it and it takes on superlative force:

• Être obligés de coucher par terre est le moindre de nos problèmes. (Having to sleep on the ground is the least of our problems.)
• Ils ont achevé le travail sans la moindre étincelle de bon goût. (They finished the work without the least spark of good taste.)

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VII. Advanced: When Ellipsis Goes Missing

Statements of comparison usually use ellipsis.² Thus,

• “Christine is more intelligent than I.”

is an abbreviated form of

• “Christine is more intelligent than I am.”

which is really short for

• “Christine is more intelligent than I am intelligent.”

French sometimes uses the completer form. When the comparison turns on an adjective, the neutral form le in the second part of the sentence stands in for that adjective:

• Christine est plus intelligente que, moi, je le suis.

This le (always in the masculine singular form) is required. Not required, but elegant, is the addition of a pleonastic ne³:

• Christine est plus intelligente que, moi, je ne le suis.

A further turn of the stylistic screw involves inversion in the second half of the sentence:

• “Christine is more intelligent than her brother” = Christine est plus intelligente que ne l’est son frère.

Summary of Comparative Forms

	+	=	–
Adverbs & Adjectives	plus	aussi	moins
Nouns	plus de	autant de	moins de
Numbers	plus de		moins de
Verbs	plus	autant	moins

1. Literally “so much the worse,” but I believe it is never used that way. In contrast, tant mieux really does mean “So much the better.”[↩]
2. the leaving out of important words that are obvious from the context[↩]
3. In French, le ne explétif.[↩]

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