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Home / Language / Introduction to Dutch / Watch and read: comparatives and superlatives

Watch and read: comparatives and superlatives

Watch and / or read the explanation and examples on this part of Dutch grammar: comparative and superlative. Also: learn how to practice Dutch gramma
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Comparatives and superlatives– here you will see how to construct a comparative and superlative form and how to express when you think something is bigger, newer, or biggest, or newest. And we will show the irregular forms for these constructions. First, let’s see what we are discussing. These forms– “leuk”, “leuker”, “leukst”, meaning, nice, nicer, nicest. Or “mooi”, “mooier”, “mooist”, for beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful. “good”, “better”, “best” – good, better, best. “veel”, “meer”, “meest” – many, more, most. And a few more examples– [DUTCH SPOKEN] Misschien de leukste stad. [DUTCH SPOKEN] Volgende keer beter. [DUTCH SPOKEN] Dat is lekkerder dan gewone saus. [DUTCH SPOKEN]. Dat is het goedkoopst. So how should we construct these forms?
79.3
To compare, just add -er, like “groot” becomes “groter” – like big and bigger. “vroeg” becomes “vroeger”, like early and earlier. “mooi” becomes “mooier”, meaning, beautiful and more beautiful. Note, however, adjectives ending on -r receive an extra -d, so “lekker” becomes “lekkerder”, and “duur”, “duurder”. To make the superlative form, we add -st. So “groot”, “grootst”, “vroeg”, “vroegst”, “mooi”, “mooist”. So far, for the regular forms. However, like most languages, in Dutch we also have a few irregular forms. We just have to accept this. I’ll read them for you, and you can just read long and look at the translations in English. “veel”, “meer”, “meest”. “weinig”, “minder”, “minst”. “goed”, “beter”, “best”. “graag”, “liever”, “liefst”. Now you’ll see some examples from the dialogues.
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[DUTCH SPOKEN] Is het groter dan je vorige huis? [DUTCH SPOKEN] Dit is het gemakkelijkste recept. [DUTCH SPOKEN] Ik houd meer van sport. [DUTCH SPOKEN] Ja,dat is beter. One final remark, we treat comparatives and superlatives like adjectives. This means that they sometimes receive an extra -e, and sometimes they don’t. So [DUTCH SPOKEN] een goed plan, [DUTCH SPOKEN] een beter plan, [DUTCH SPOKEN] het beste plan. [DUTCH SPOKEN] een kleine stad, [DUTCH SPOKEN] een kleinere stad, [DUTCH SPOKEN]de kleinste stad.

Watch the video about comparatives and superlatives and read the explanation below.

Comparatives and superlatives

Adjectives are used to construct the regular form of the comparative and superlative.

Construction of the comparative

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This content is taken from
University of Groningen online course,

Introduction to Dutch

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To construct a comparative from an adjective -er is added.

leuk – leuker
mooi – mooier

When an adjective ends in -r, the ending -der is added

lekker – lekkerder
duur – duurder

Construction of the superlative

To construct a superlative from an adjective -st is added.

leuk – leukst
mooi – mooist

lekker – lekkerst
duur – duurst

Irregular forms

Some Dutch comparative and superlative forms are irregular.

For example:

veel – meer – meest many – more – most
weinig – minder – minst little – less – least
goed – beter – best good – better – best

In some cases an -e is added to a comparative or superlative, as with adjectives.

For example

Het idee

het betere idee een beter idee

De baan

de leukere baan een leukere baan

Practise with Quizlet

Would you like to practise Dutch grammar? Please visit our grammar section on comparatives and superlatives on Quizlet (if you prefer Quizlet to open in a separate window, click the CTRL key while clicking the link).

Do you have any questions about Dutch grammar? Follow the links below for more information. Share your comments and questions in the discussion below.

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This content is taken from University of Groningen online course
Introduction to Dutch
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