French and English enjoy common ways of expressing degrees of comparison, namely equality or inequality. Inequality can express inferiority (less than) or superiority (more than). However, French does not have an equivalent to the English ending forms -er and -est (e.g. harder, hardest).
The comparative is used when you want to compare two or more things to each other. The three degrees of comparison are superiority, inferiority, and equality. Here are examples in English of each kind:
Superiority: I am smarter than my brother.
I have more cows than chickens on the farm.
Inferiority: She is less excited than her teacher about the first day of school.
She has fewer nickels than pennies in her wallet.
Equality: I am as nervous about the first date as he is.
We have as many days off as the other colleges.
*Notice how the first sentence in each example is comparing an adjective (smarter, less excited than, as nervous…as). The second example in each sentence is comparing a noun (more cows than, fewer nickels than, as many days off as). This distinction is important in French to understand.
Le Comparatif:
Comparing a quality: Adjectives and Adverbs
*think adjectives in English that end in -er*
| French | English | Example | Translation |
| plus…que | more…than | Je m’endors plus vite que ma sœur. | I fall asleep faster (more fast than) my sister. |
| moins…que | less…than | Elle est moins grande que son petit-ami. | She is shorter (less tall than) her boyfriend. |
| aussi…que | as….as | L’enfant pleure aussi fort que l’adulte. | The child cries as loud as the adult. |
*Remember to make the adjective agree with your subject even when doing le comparatif. Think about what needs to be added to the adjective if the subject is feminine and/or plural. To review adjective agreement, see A1.1 Module 10.
Comparing a quantity: Nouns
| French | English | Example | Translation |
| plus de…que | more…than | Les avocats gagnent plus d’argent que les profs. | Lawyers earn more money than teachers. |
| moins de…que | less/fewer…than | Il y a moins de poissons dans les lacs que dans les océans. | There are fewer fish in the lakes than in the oceans. |
| autant de…que | as many….as | J’ai autant d’examens cette année que l’année dernière. | I have as many exams this year as last year. |
Notice the differences in the charts. When comparing a quantity of nouns, you add de to each comparative expression. Additionally, aussi changes to autant. This is a common mistake made among beginners.