mindre

Mindre is a word used in the Scandinavian languages Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. It functions as the comparative form of the adjectives meaning small or little, and as an adverb indicating a lesser degree. The form is cognate across these languages and is commonly used to compare size, quantity, or degree.

In Danish, mindre is the comparative of lille. It can modify nouns, as in et mindre hus (a smaller house), or appear with a following clause to form a comparison, as in mindre end før (less than before).

In Norwegian Bokmål, mindre serves similarly as the comparative of liten. Examples include Dette er et mindre problem (This is a smaller problem) and mindre enn forventet (less than expected). The phrase mindre enn is the standard construction for “less than” in Norwegian.

In Swedish, mindre is the comparative of liten and also functions as an adverb meaning less. Examples include mindre pengar (less money) and mindre än vad som sagts (less than what has been said). Swedish typically uses än in comparisons (mindre än).

Notes on usage: while mindre commonly governs adjectives and nouns to express size or amount, it also appears in broader phrases to indicate a reduced degree of a quality. The exact preposition in the comparison varies by language: Danish uses end, Norwegian uses enn, and Swedish uses än.

Overall, mindre is a stable, widely used degree word across the main Scandinavian languages, reflecting shared Germanic roots and parallel grammatical functions.