French Comparative Adverbs

Comparative adverbs express relative superiority or inferiority. Superiority, the idea that something is "more ___" or "___er" than something else, is expressed with plus in French. Inferiority, meaning that something is "less ___" than something else, is stated with moins. You can also express equality with comparatives, to state that something is "as ___ as" something else; in French, there are two possible equivalents: aussi and autant.

Notes about French Comparatives

1. In French comparatives, you use stressed pronouns after que, rather than subject pronouns. For example, Il est plus grand que moi - "He's taller than I (am)."

2. Comparative adverbs are most commonly used with adjectives, but you can also use them with adverbs, verbs, and nouns. These comparisons have slightly different constructions for each part of speech. Click in the summary table below for detailed lessons.

French Comparative Constructions

Comparisons with...	Required word order
Adjectives	plus/moins/aussi + adjective + que + noun/pronoun
	plus/moins/aussi + adjective + que + adjective
	plus/moins/aussi + adjective + que + temporal adverb
Adverbs	plus/moins/aussi + adverb + que + noun/pronoun
	plus/moins/aussi + adverb + que + adverb
	plus/moins/aussi + adverb + que + temporal adverb
Nouns	plus/moins/autant de + noun + que + noun/pronoun
	plus/moins/autant de + noun + que + de + noun
	plus/moins/autant de + noun + que + temporal adverb
Verbs	verb + plus/moins/autant que + noun/pronoun
	verb + plus/moins/autant que + pronoun (+ ne) + verb
	verb + plus/moins/autant que + temporal adverb
French comparatives and superlatives

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