intelligenter

Intelligenter is the comparative form of the German adjective intelligent. It is used to express a higher degree of intelligence when comparing two or more subjects, and it can appear in predicative positions as well as before a noun in attributive use with the appropriate declension.

Etymology and usage context: The adjective intelligent is a loanword in German, originally from French intelligent, which in turn derives from the Latin intelligentem (from intelligere, to understand). The comparative form intelligenter is formed with the suffix -er, as in other German adjectives, and it must agree with gender, number, and case when it modifies a noun. In predicative constructions, it follows a linking verb: “Sie ist intelligenter als ihr Bruder.” In attributive position before a noun, forms vary by gender and case, for example: “ein intelligenterer Mann” (a more intelligent man), “eine intelligentere Frau” (a more intelligent woman), “das intelligentere Kind” (the more intelligent child).

Typical usage: intelligenter is commonly used across written and spoken German to indicate that one person or thing surpasses another in intelligence, or to describe a relatively higher degree of intellectual capability in a given context. The positive form intelligent and the superlative am intelligentesten remain standard for expressing non-comparative and maximal degrees, while intelligenter denotes the comparative degree.

See also: German adjective declension, comparative and superlative forms in German, etymology of intelligent in Germanic languages.