Comparative adjectives | LearnEnglish https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/a1-a2...

Grammar (/grammar) > A1-A2 grammar (/grammar/a1-a2-grammar) > Comparative adjectives

Comparative adjectives

Do you know how to use comparative adjectives like older, better and more
interesting? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation
to help you.

Look at these examples to see how we use comparative adjectives.

The city is more interesting than the countryside.

This house is older than my house.
She's better at cooking now than before.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

1 / 11 23/10/14, 14:02
Comparative adjectives | LearnEnglish https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/a1-a2...

Grammar test 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation
We use comparative adjectives to compare two things or show change. The
comparative form depends on the number of syllables in the adjective.

Adjectives with one syllable

To make comparative forms with one-syllable adjectives, we usually add -er:

old → older
clean → cleaner
slow → slower

If an adjective ends in -e, we add -r:

safe → safer
nice → nicer

If an adjective ends in a vowel and a consonant, we usually double the consonant:

big → bigger
hot → hotter

Adjectives with two or more syllables

2 / 11 23/10/14, 14:02
Comparative adjectives | LearnEnglish https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/a1-a2...

If a two-syllable adjective ends in a consonant and -y, we change -y to -i and add

-er:

noisy → noisier
happy → happier
easy → easier

We use more to make comparative forms for most other two-syllable adjectives and
for all adjectives with three or more syllables:

crowded → more crowded

stressful → more stressful
dangerous → more dangerous

Exception: You can either add -er/-r or use more with some two-syllable adjectives,
such as common, cruel, gentle, handsome, likely, narrow, pleasant, polite, simple
and stupid.

I think life in the countryside is simpler than in the city.

It's more simple to live in the city because everything you need is there.

Irregular adjectives
The adjectives good, bad and far have irregular comparative forms:

good → better
bad → worse
far → further/farther

Than

3 / 11 23/10/14, 14:02
Comparative adjectives | LearnEnglish https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/a1-a2...

When we want to say which person or thing we are comparing with, we can use
than:

Their house is cleaner than ours.

Traffic is slower in the city than in the countryside.
After the race I was more tired than Anne.

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2

Language level

A2 - Pre-intermediate (/taxonomy/term/1496)

Average: 4.5 (68 votes)

Submitted by Ahmed Imam on Tue, 19/09/2023 - 12:43

Permalink (/comment/192747#comment-192747)

Hello. Could you please help me? Which form is correct? Why?
- He is (more lazy - lazier) than stupid.
Thank you.
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Submitted by Kirk Moore on Tue, 19/09/2023 - 13:17

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4 / 11 23/10/14, 14:02
Comparative adjectives | LearnEnglish https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/a1-a2...

There are two possibilities here.

1) 'He is lazier than he is stupid.' This is a simple comparison of a

person's two qualities. The person has both qualities, but more laziness
than stupidity. In your version, the words 'he is' are omitted, but we
normally don't omit them in such cases.

2) 'He is more lazy than stupid.' This could have the same meaning as
1, or it could be a kind of rebuttal of someone else's assertion that this
person is stupid. If you believe that this person is not stupid, but rather
lazy, then you could use this sentence to say that.

Out of context, I would understand meaning 2 rather than 1.

Does that make sense?

All the best,

Kirk
LearnEnglish team

Submitted by oyo on Tue, 19/09/2023 - 12:25

Permalink (/comment/192745#comment-192745)

so intresting
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Submitted by Crowz19 on Thu, 17/08/2023 - 10:24

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so good
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Submitted by Tarek173 on Sat, 10/06/2023 - 20:12

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It was easy to solve!

Submitted by Rostom11 on Thu, 01/06/2023 - 11:33

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Very, very well!

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Submitted by Jeannettegp on Wed, 10/05/2023 - 21:15

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It´s a good explanation

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Submitted by francoandrian on Wed, 08/03/2023 - 14:23

Permalink (/comment/185324#comment-185324)

I have 1 brother and 2 sisters. My brother is older than me and I am older

than my sisters.
I am the tallest and my middle sister is taller than my brother and my
other sister.
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Submitted by Ashwaq Shamil on Mon, 06/03/2023 - 15:41

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This is good explain and test for me

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Submitted by uttambro on Mon, 13/02/2023 - 18:23

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Interesting!
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