schmalere

Schmalere is a German adjective form meaning narrower or more narrow. It is the inflected ending that occurs when the base adjective schmal is used before a noun in certain grammatical contexts.

In practice, schmalere appears most often in attributive position when the noun is accompanied by a definite article or a determiner that cues a weak ending. For example: Der schmalere Weg (the narrower path), Die schmalere Tür (the narrower door), Das schmalere Kleid (the narrower dress). Here the ending -ere signals agreement with the masculine, feminine, or neuter singular noun under a definite article. The form can also appear in the plural as schmaleren before plural nouns, for instance: die schmaleren Wege (the narrower paths).

Schmalere is not the general comparative form by itself; the standard comparative of schmal is schmaler (as in der schmalere Weg would be used with a definite article, while der schmalere Weg is a common variant found in many speakers). The superlative is am schmalsten. In contexts without a definite article or with different determiners, other endings arise: for example, ein schmaler Weg (a narrower path) or eine schmalere Tür would be less typical without a definite determiner.

Etymology traces schmal to Old High German smal, from the broader Germanic root meaning narrow. The form schmalere combines the stem schmal with the appropriate inflectional ending for singular nouns governed by a definite determiner.

Schmalere is widely used in descriptive writing and everyday speech to compare the widths of objects, such as roads, doors, clothing, and other tangible items. It is one of several inflected forms that illustrate German adjective declension after determiners.