ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS part3(§25-§34)

⏪ CONTENTS

SHORTCUT TO ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS part1(§1-§9)
SHORTCUT TO ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS part2(§10-§24)
SHORTCUT TO ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS part4(§25-§34)

§25 An important variation in the comparative form is the umlauting of a stem vowel,
especially in one-syllable adjectives:
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE
alt älter (note English old—elder)
warm wärmer
kurz kürzer
Hoch has a special comparative form: höher.
There are a few “irregular” comparative forms, the most notable of which is besser,

from the positive gut. (Note English ‘good-better’.)

§26 The comparative forms of adjectives are still adjectives, which may come after a noun:

Ich glaube, das Kotelett ist heute besser.

— or before it, in which case they must have appropriate adjective endings according

to §§10-19:

Ich finde, der längere Mantel ist schöner.
These endings provide essential signals and are never abbreviated, even where
redundancy seems likely with adjectives ending in –er:

↓ comparative suffix
ein tapfererer Soldat a braver soldier

↑ adjective ending

§27 Comparison can be carried out without the -er ending. If object A is better than
object B,then object B is not as good as object A. The formula used to compare
two things from the perspective of the lesser of the two is so . . . wie, the equivalent of
English ‘as . . . as’:
Die Berge sind schön, aber das Meer ist schöner.
— Ja, ich finde die Berge auch nicht so schön wie das Meer.

§28 Another way of stating the comparison in §26 would be from the perspective of the
greater of the two. Here the word als is used after the word describing the greater:
Das Meer ist schöner als die Berge.
— Ja, ich finde das Meer auch schöner.
§29 Comparison strategy: If for some reason you do not know a specific word you want to
use in a comparison, think of an antonym and use another kind of comparative
construction:
Die Berge in Wyoming sind . . . sind . . . [“Hmm . . . ‘higher than’? How do you say

‘higher’, anyway?. . . aha —”] Die Berge in Vermont sind nicht so hoch wie

die Berge in Wyoming.

— So, in Wyoming sind die Berge also höher — sehr interessant.
§30 Not all things that are compared differ to an equal degree. One thing may

be marginally better than another, or better by far. The hierarchy of adverbs used

to lend greater precision to the comparison is

etwas besser   ein bißchen besser
  noch besser
viel besser   weit besser

§31 The superlative form of an adjective, ending in -st in German as it does in English,

compares the accompanying noun to others and finds it superior to all the rest. The
superlative is used when three or more unequal things are being compared.
Adjectives with stems ending in a t- or s- sound normally add an -e- before the -st
ending: interessantest-. A conspicuous exception is the superlative of groß: größt-.
There are two environments for superlative forms: one before nouns and one after.

When a superlative adjective comes after the noun it modifies (“Alpine milk is

the richest”) it is couched in the formula am . . . -sten:
Geranien sind schön, und Tulpen sind auch schön.
— Ja, aber Rosen sind am schönsten.
Konrad hat viel Geld, und Jürgens Vater ist Millionär. . .
— aber Elisabeth ist am reichsten.

When the superlative adjective comes before the noun it modifies, it must have the
appropriate adjective ending:
kleinst– Christina ist die kleinste Tänzerin in der Gruppe.
teuerst– Die teuersten Diamanten finde ich nicht schön.
This rule also applies when there is no apparent following noun, but one is strongly
implied:
Die teuersten Diamanten sind auch die schönsten [Diamanten].
Ja, Hunde sind gute Haustiere. Aber die besten [Haustiere] sind Fische.
— Wie, bitte? Die besten Hunde sind Fische??
— Nein, nein. Die besten Haustiere sind Fische.
§32 Adjectives that umlaut their stem vowels in the comparative do so as well in the
superlative. Note the following common irregular comparative and superlative forms:
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
gut besser best-

viel mehr meist

nahe näher nächst

hoch,hoh- höher höchst

groß größer größt-
NOTES: 1. Mehr does not take adjective endings; viel takes endings only in

the plural. 2. Nahe: Compare archaic English ‘nigh’, ‘nearer’, ‘next’.

The ‘next’ place is literally the ‘nearest’ one.

§33 It was stated in §1 that adverbs modify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs. Adverbs
generally do not have forms that are different from the forms of adjectives. In English,
most adverbs have a characteristic suffix ‘-ly’. Whereas German does have an

equivalent suffix -lich, it is used for both adjectives and adverbs (möglich ‘possible’,

‘possibly’). English speakers sometimes have difficulty coming to terms with adverbs

such as gut, whose equivalent, ‘good’, we learn as an adjective only:

Her voice is good (adjective), but she sings well (adverb).

Adverbs answer the questions ‘When?, ‘Where?, ‘How?, ‘How far?’, ‘To what extent?’,
etc. That is, they tell time, location, direction, manner, extent, cause, and purpose.

They may be one-word adverbs, such as doch, immer, auch, heute, or adverb

phrases which combine adverbs with each other or with prepositional phrases.

CATEGORY QUESTION WORD ADVERB PREPOSITIONAL PHRASETIME

TIME wann heute vor der Klasse

LOCATION wo hier vor dem Haus

DIRECTION wohin dorthin in die Stadt

woher hierher aus der Stadt

MANNER wie schnell mit dem Auto

EXTENT wie sehr durch die ganze Welt

CAUSE womit damit mit einem Hammer

PURPOSE warum deshalb wegen dem Wetter

or REASON wozu

wieso

§34 Even if adverbs are several words long, their function in a sentence does not change.

In this first sentence, both adverbs modify the verb spielt:

   ↓ adverb tells when
   Der Cellist spielt am 29. März im Auditorium Maximum.
↑ adverb tells where
  In der Stadthalle am linken Ufer des Rheins gibt es am Freitag ein tolles Konzert.
↑ adverb tells where

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