Making comparisons with adjectives: plus... que, aussi... que, moins... que : French language lesson

Comparing characteristics using adjectives (He is taller/shorter... than her) is different from comparing actions or things.

Have a look at the sentences:

Jean est plus petit que son frère
John is shorter/younger than his brother

Mon père reste moins compréhensif que ma mère.
My father is still less understanding than my mother.

Marie est aussi timide que sa mère
Marie is as shy as her mother

Note that to compare adjectives (nice, big, ...), you use comparative words as follows:

English	French
more [adjective] than [adjective]-er than	plus [adjectif] que
less [adjective] than	moins [adjectif] que
as [adjective] as	aussi [adjectif] que

The adjective needs to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to:

Aurélie est plus grande que Marie.
Aurélie is taller than Marie.

Les hommes sont moins patients que les femmes.
Men are less patient than women.

Mes soeurs sont aussi paresseuses que moi.
My sisters are as lazy as I.

Whereas in English, you will need to use a subject pronoun after than (... than I (do), you (do), he/she (does)...), in French you will once again use the stress pronoun after que (... que moi, toi, lui/elle, nous, vous, eux/elles). You will also never repeat the verb with (do/am/have) afterwards.

Alice est plus grande que je suis moi.
Alice is taller than I am.

See also other Comparative structures:

Plus... plus..., moins... moins... = the more...the more..., the less...the less... (comparisons with phrases)
Better and better, worse and worse = de mieux en mieux, de pire en pire (comparisons)
De plus en plus and de moins en moins = more and more and less and less (comparisons with adjectives, adverbs, verbs)
De plus en plus de and de moins en moins de = more and more and less and less (comparisons of nouns)
Making comparisons with nouns: plus de... que, moins de... que, autant de... que
Making comparisons with adverbs: plus... que, aussi... que, moins... que
Making comparisons with verbs: plus que, autant que, moins que

And for Superlative forms, see:

Le, la, les plus and le, la, les moins = the most and the least (superlatives of adjectives)
Meilleur, mieux, pire / plus mauvais, plus mal = better, best, worse and worst (irregular comparatives and superlatives)
Le plus and le moins = the most and the least (superlative of adverbs)

Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Adjectif

Comparatif

Examples and resources

Comparisons: Plus ... que (video by a green mouse)

Mon père reste moins compréhensif que ma mère.
My father is still less understanding than my mother.

Jean est plus petit que son frère
John is shorter/younger than his brother

Mes soeurs sont aussi paresseuses que moi.
My sisters are as lazy as I.

Marie est aussi timide que sa mère
Marie is as shy as her mother

Les hommes sont moins patients que les femmes.
Men are less patient than women.

Aurélie est plus grande que Marie.
Aurélie is taller than Marie.

Q&A

Michelle

Kwiziq community member

13 January 2019

2 replies

Comparisons with adjectives and a feminine and masculine noun

I thought I understood this and that you have to base gender and number on the subject (first noun) as it was done here in the examples. So I would say, and have in fact been saying "Elle est plus grande que son frère" and "Il est plus grand que sa sœur".

Now I have a workbook that told me to write:

"Un village est plus petitE qu'une ville"---> Using the gender of ville, the second noun in the comparison, rather than the gender of village. That's wrong, right?

It also told me to write "Paris est plus grandE que Bordeaux". The only explanation for this I have is that they are "La ville de Paris/Bordeaux" here and hence feminine. Does that sound right?

I think it's time to recycle my workbook...

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

15 January 2019

15/01/19

Hi Michelle,

The workbook is definitely wrong!

It should be -

‘Un village est plus petit qu’une ville’

In the case of Paris , it is more tricky but normally cities which end in ‘e’ are said to be feminine and those ending in consonants are said to be masculine but it is somewhat arbitrary and there is much debate about it on the internet...

I would say:

‘Paris est plus grand que Bordeaux‘

Hope this helps!