Comparative and superlative of Dutch adjectives: how to compare things

You'll probably already know lots of adjectives in Dutch (leuk, mooi, snel, groen, etc.). But once you know those, you can also form the comparative and superlative!

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Comparatives in Dutch

Let's take a look at some adjectives.
  • mooi
  • leuk
  • interessant
  • duur
It's actually really easy to turn these adjectives in a comparative by just adding "-er".
  • Dit schilderij is mooier dan dat schilderij.
  • Deze film is leuker dan die film.
  • Het verhaal wordt interessanter.
  • De tickets voor het festival zijn duurder dan vorig jaar.
Ok, in the last example you might have noticed that we didn't add "-er", but "-der". This is because duur ends with an r. To make the sound easier to pronounce and more clear, a d is added. This also happens with lekkerder, raarder and verder, to name a few.
If you put the noun behind the comparative, you have to take the rule of the "e" into account.
  • Dit is een mooier schilderij.
  • Wij kijken een leukere film dan de vorige keer.

Superlatives in Dutch

Let's continue with the adjectives we used above: mooi, leuk, interessant and duur.
To make a superlative you add "het" in front of the adjective and "-st(e)" behind it.
  • Dit schilderij is het mooist(e).
  • Deze film is het leukst(e).
  • Het verhaal is het interessantst(e).
  • De tickets voor het festival zijn het duurst(e).
If the noun is behind the verb, you have to take the rule of the "e" into account (again, below you'll find a link to a profound explanation). Also, you have to use "het" or "de" depending on the word.
  • Dit is het mooiste schilderij.
  • Dit is de leukste film.

Irregulars

There are a few adjectives that have an irregular comparative and/or superlative.
  • goed - beter - best
  • graag - liever - liefst
  • weinig - minder - minst
  • veel - meer - meest

Practice with exercises

Look at the adjective in the brackets. Form the comparative or superlative. Take a good look at the sentence to know which one to use.

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info@thedutchonlineacademy.com
Bedankt! We hebben het aangepast.

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