Comparative and superlative

Adjectives can be used to make comparisons.
There are roughly two kinds of comparisons: the 'comparative' and the 'superlative'.

We use the comparative to compare two things:

New York is bigger than Amsterdam.

We use the superlative to compare more than two things:

New York is the most beautiful city in the world.

In this example, New York is compared to all other cities in the world.

How the comparative and superlative are formed depends on the number of syllables of the adjective.

One or two syllables: -(e)r and -(e)st

	comparative	superlative
cheap	cheap-er	(the) cheap-est
narrow	narrow-er	(the) narrow-est
large	large-r	(the) large-st	Note: only a -r and -st
big	big-ger	(the) big-gest	Note: consonant is doubled if required for pronunciation
hot	hot-ter	(the) hot-test

Two syllables ending in -y: -ier and -iest (so: y> i)

	comparative	superlative
funny	funn-ier	(the) funn-iest
happy	happ-ier	(the) happ-iest

Two, three, or more syllables: more and most

	comparative	superlative
famous	more famous	(the) most famous
difficult	more difficult	(the) most difficult

There are also some irregular comparatives and superlatives:

	comparative	superlative
good	better	best
bad	worse	worst
little	less	least
much/many	more	most
far	farther/further	(the) farthest/the furthest

Also important: in the comparative the word "than" is often used to indicate what something is compared to:

A bike is cheaper than a car.
You’re older than me.