Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to make comparisons of superiority, inferiority, and equality in Italian, and form both relative and absolute superlatives.

Lesson Explanation

Comparisons of superiority/inferiority use più…di/che (more…than) and meno…di/che (less…than): Anna è più alta di Marco. (Anna is taller than Marco.)

A genuinely distinctive detail with no Spanish equivalent: Italian uses di when comparing two different nouns/people, but switches to che when comparing two qualities, quantities, or actions about the SAME subject: Marco è più intelligente che simpatico. (Marco is more intelligent than likeable — comparing two traits of the same person.)

Comparisons of equality use tanto…quanto or così…come — both correct and interchangeable, often dropped in casual speech: Anna è (così) alta come Marco. (Anna is as tall as Marco.)

Irregular comparatives: buono → migliore, cattivo → peggiore, grande → maggiore, piccolo → minore (good→better, bad→worse, big→greater/older, small→lesser/younger).

Relative superlatives add the definite article: il più alto (the tallest) — genuinely parallel to Spanish. But Italian also has a genuinely distinctive absolute superlative, formed with the suffix -issimo/a/i/e (a construction already previewed for Spanish’s “-ísimo” in an earlier-built Gabal course, and directly comparable): bellissimo (extremely beautiful), facilissimo (extremely easy) — expressing intensity with no comparison implied at all, exactly like Spanish’s equivalent suffix.

Practice Questions