Comparatives & Superlatives

📌 Grammatiknotering

The vast majority of Swedish adjectives form their comparative with '-are' (more .../ -er) and their superlative with '-ast' (most .../ -est): billig – billigare – billigast; varm – varmare – varmast; dyr – dyrare – dyrast.

📌 Grammatiknotering

Great news: once an adjective is in the comparative form (-are or -re), it is 100% invariable! It stays identical before en-words, ett-words, plurals, and in the definite form.

📌 Grammatiknotering

Several very common short adjectives change their stem vowel and add '-re' and '-st': stor – större – störst (big), ung – yngre – yngst (young), tung – tyngre – tyngst (heavy), lång – längre – längst (long/tall), låg – lägre – lägst (low), få – färre (fewer).

📌 Grammatiknotering

Memorize these four irregulars: bra – bättre – bäst (good – better – best); dålig – sämre – sämst (bad – worse – worst); liten – mindre – minst (small – smaller – smallest); gammal – äldre – äldst (old – older – oldest).

📌 Grammatiknotering

Crucial Swedish distinction! For uncountable nouns: mycket – mer – mest (more coffee = mer kaffe) and lite – mindre – minst (less time = mindre tid). For countable plural nouns: många – fler – flest (more books = fler böcker) and få – färre (fewer people = färre människor)!

📌 Grammatiknotering

Long adjectives ending in -isk (praktisk, typisk), past participles in -ad/-d (intresserad, känd), and present participles in -ande/-ende (spännande) do not take -are/-ast; they use 'mer' (more) and 'mest' (most).

📌 Grammatiknotering

When a superlative stands alone after 'är' without a noun, it can stay in its bare form: 'Bilen är dyrast / störst'. When it stands BEFORE a definite noun (or after 'den/det/de' or a possessive), it MUST add '-e' (after -ast -> -aste) or '-a' (after -st -> -sta): 'den dyraste bilen', 'det största huset', 'min bästa vän'!

📌 Grammatiknotering

Use 'lika + positive adjective (agreed!) + som' for equality ('as ... as'): 'Huset är lika stort som vårt'. Use 'komparativ + än' for inequality ('... than'): 'Huset är större än vårt'.

📌 Grammatiknotering

Strengthen a comparative with 'mycket' (much), 'ännu' (even), or 'lite' (a little): 'mycket bättre', 'ännu större'. Strengthen a superlative with 'allra' (by far / very): 'den allra bästa filmen' (the very best movie).

📌 Grammatiknotering

To express 'The more ..., the more ...', use 'Ju + comparative' in the first clause (subordinate word order!) and 'desto (or ju) + comparative' in the second clause (main-clause inverted word order!).