The regular superlative is also almost identical to the English one:
Regular form
Infinitive | Komparativ | Superlativ
- frisch | frischer | > am frischesten -------- add an additional -e to the superlative
fresh | fresher | (at) the freshest* -------- after -sch/-z/-ß/-s and -d/-t - klein | kleiner | > am kleinsten
small | smaller | (at) the smallest*
There’s also a few things to be aware of and there are only few irregular forms.
- groß | größer | > am größten -------- the ß swallows the s
big bigger (at) the biggest* - lang | länger | > am längsten --------- often an Umlaut is required
long | longer | (at) the longest* - teuer | teurer | > am teuersten
expensive | more expensive | at the most expensive* - müde | müder | > am müdesten
tired | more tired | at the most tired.*
The irregular form
Infinitive | Komparativ | Superlativ
- gut | besser | am besten
- viel | mehr | am meisten
- sehr | mehr | am meisten
- gern | lieber | am liebsten
- hoch | höher | am höchsten
- nah | näher | am nächsten
USAGE
Klaus: 1,60m / Paul: 1,80m / Frank: 1,90m
- Klaus ist groß.
- Paul ist größer als Klaus.
- Frank ist am größten.
That’s mostly it, but you might soon realize that the superlative is also often used with the articles der, das, die and all their forms.
ONE MORE THING
When these forms function as adjectives, they take the ending according to the rules of adjective declination, which will be covered later on. Just take notice for now. It will come to you after you have dealt with the adjectives:
- der frischeste Apfel
- das kleinste Auto
* The literal translation(s) are there to clarify the German grammar structure
This topic is covered in: A2-L42 and A2-L44.