comparatif

Comparatif is a grammatical category used to express a higher or lower degree of an attribute when comparing two entities. It is applied to adjectives and, in many languages, to adverbs, allowing speakers to indicate relative quality such as bigger, faster, or more intelligent. The comparative form is typically contrasted with the positive (the base form) and the superlative (the highest degree within a group).

Formation and usage vary across languages. In English, short adjectives form the comparative with the suffix -er (taller, faster) or with more/less for longer adjectives (more intelligent). In French, the comparative is usually built with plus/minus/aussi + adjective + que (for example, plus grand que, aussi rapide que). German forms the der Komparativ by adding -er and often employs a stem change (groß → größer) and uses als to mean “than” (größer als). Spanish uses más/menos + adjective + que (más alto que), while Italian and Portuguese typically use più + adjective + di/do que (più alto di, mais alto do que). Irregular comparisons exist, such as English good/better, bad/worse, far/farther/further, and French meilleur/pire.

Some properties affect use: comparisons usually require an explicit second item (than/que/di), and not all adjectives are easily gradable in every language. The comparative often entails syntactic or morphological marking, and in some languages a periphrastic construction (more + adjective) serves the same function as a synthetic form.

See also: superlative, degree of comparison, grammar of adjectives, adverbs. Etymology traces comparatif to Latin comparativus, from comparare, meaning to compare.