Italian 4.1. Degrees of Comparison

In this lesson, we will examine different degrees of comparison of nouns and adjectives in Italian, indicating their equality, inequality, or the extreme degree of an adjective.

We will study the comparison of equality, the comparison of inequality, and superlatives.

Comparatives of Equality

The most common expressions in this category are:

1. così + (adjective/adverb) + come … as (adj./adv.) as …

Questa macchina è così costosa come una casa.	This car is as expensive as a house.
Lei è così alta come sua sorella.	She is as tall as her sister.
Parla così chiaro come un insegnante.	He speaks as clearly as a teacher.

2. tanto + (adj./adv.) + quanto … as (adj./adv.) as …

Questa macchina è tanto costosa quanto una casa.	This car is as expensive as a house.
Lei è tanto alta quanto sua sorella.	She is as tall as her sister.
Parla tanto chiaro quanto un insegnante.	He speaks as clearly as a teacher.

Notice that it is more common, in both expressions above, to drop the first word, “così” or “tanto,” in the construction in informal speech, e.g., “Lei è alta come sua sorella” (She is as tall as her sister).

3. tanto/-a/-i/-e + (noun) + quanto … as much/many (noun) as …

Ha tanti soldi quanto un milionario.	He has as much money as amillionaire.
Ci sono tante persone qui come a Londra.	There are as many people here as in London.

Notice that “tanto/-a/-i/-e” in the expressions above must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes.

Comparatives of Inequality

The following formula is used to express inequality when comparing two adjectives, adverbs, or nouns:

più/meno … di …                                           more/less … than …

For example:

È più alta di sua sorella.	She is taller than her sister.
Parla più chiaro di un professore.	He speaks more clearly than a teacher.
Ha più soldi del presidente.	He has more money than the president.
Siamo meno ricchi dei nostri genitori.	We are less rich than our parents.
Parla meno chiaramente di un professore.	He speaks less clearly than a teacher.
Ha meno pazienza di mio fratello.	He has less patience than my brother.

The following adjectives have both regular and irregular forms:

buono	good	migliore or più buono	better
cattivo	bad	peggiore or più cattivo	worse
vecchio	old	maggiore or più vecchio	older
giovane	young	minore or più giovane	younger
grande	large	maggiore or più grande	larger
piccolo	small	minore or più piccolo	smaller

In the special case of comparing an adjective to another adjective of the same noun, we use “che” instead of “di” before the second adjective. For example:

Il suo discorso è più emotivo che accurato.	His speech is more emotional than it is accurate.
Sono più professionali che esperti.	They are more professional than they are experienced.

Superlatives

There are two ways to express the large or extreme degrees of an adjective.

1. Relative Superlatives

il/la/i/le + più/meno + (adjective)

the + most/least + (adjective)

Inserting a noun between the definite article and “più/meno” is optional.

Lei è la più intelligente della sua classe.	She is the most intelligent in her class.
Siamo i meno colpiti dalla crisi.	We are the least affected by the crisis.
È la questione più importante del paese.	This is the most important topic in the country.
È il politico meno corrotto in parlamento.	He is the least corrupt politician in the parliament.
Sono le donne più coraggiose che abbia mai visto.	They are the most courageous women I have ever seen.

The following adjectives from the comparison of inequality also have regular and irregular forms as relative superlatives:

buono	good	il/la/i/le + (migliore or più buono)	best
cattivo	bad	il/la/i/le + (peggiore or più cattivo)	worst
vecchio	old	il/la/i/le + (maggiore or più vecchio)	oldest
giovane	young	il/la/i/le + (minore or più giovane)	youngest
grande	large	il/la/i/le + (maggiore or più grande)	largest
piccolo	small	il/la/i/le + (minore or più piccolo)	smallest

2. Absolute Superlatives

One can express an absolute superlative by simply preceding the adjective with an adverb such as “molto” (very) or “estremamente” (extremely). For example:

Questo stadio è molto freddo.	This stadium is very cold.
Il caffè è estremamente caldo.	The coffee is extremely hot.

Another way to express absolute superlatives is by using adjectives ending in “-issimo” for masculine or “-isima” for feminine, translated as “very” or “quite.” It is constructed by removing the vowel at the end of the adjective and attaching the suffix “-isimo.” The masculine and feminine plurals end in “-i” and “-e,” respectively.

cattivo	bad	cattivissimo	very bad
grande	large	grandissimo	very large
buono	good	buonissimo	very good
piccolo	small	piccolissimo	very small

Next: Partitives

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