Swedish comparatives and superlatives: större and störst

Comparing things in Swedish looks a lot like comparing them in English: most adjectives take an ending (bigger, biggest), a few change completely (good, better, best), and long ones lean on "more" and "most". The endings are -are and -ast, the word for "than" is än, and the exceptions are almost the same words that are exceptions in English, which makes them easy to forgive.

The regular pattern: -are, -ast

• Te är billigare än kaffe.▶ Tea is cheaper than coffee.
• Juli är varmast.▶ July is warmest.

The vowel-changers: -re, -st

A compact group of very common adjectives takes shorter endings and often shifts its vowel, the same family behaviour as English "long, longer" once had:

The suppletives: different words entirely

English speakers get "better", "older", "less" and "more" free of charge here; the mapping is nearly one to one.

Long adjectives borrow mer and mest

Adjectives of several syllables, including everything ending in -isk, compare with mer and mest instead of endings: mer intressant (more interesting), mest typisk (most typical). When in doubt with a long adjective, mer is the safe bet.

The superlative in definite position

Superlatives standing before a definite noun take a final vowel, the same weak-form logic as adjective agreement: -ast becomes -aste, and -st becomes -sta:

• Stockholm är Sveriges största stad.▶ Stockholm is Sweden's biggest city.
• Juni är den ljusaste månaden.▶ June is the brightest month.

Hear the comparisons

Five sentences that scale up.

Swedish

English

Gothenburg is big, but Stockholm is bigger.

Stockholm is Sweden's biggest city.

Tea is cheaper than coffee.

June is the brightest month.

My Swedish gets better every day.