Lesson Transcript

Hi guys, welcome back to ItalianPod101.com.
My name is Desy, mi chiamo Desy, mi chiamo Desy, and in this video, we're going to talk about comparative and superlative.
comparativo e superlativo
As the name suggests, of course, we need two terms of comparison, right?
The question is, what do we put in between?
So, in Italian, to compare, we have, we call it three degrees of comparison,
tre gradi, there is the comparative of majority,
il comparativo di maggioranza,
so when in English you say, this is more interesting than that, right?
In Italian, this is expressed through the pattern,
first term of comparison, verb,
più, stays for more, quality, or what we are talking about,
di or che, second term of comparison.
So, for example, it's easier said than told about.
Luca è più alto di Marco.
Luca, first term of comparison,
è, verb, più, more, alto,
it's not like in English where you have to think if it's shorter, then you add er, otherwise, more, and blah blah.
No, in Italian, it stays the same.
So, alto, più alto, di Marco.
Luca è più alto di Marco.
Luca is taller than Marco.
And if you're curious about a longer word, then we can say,
la bicicletta è più economica dell'automobile.
The bicycle, the bike, is cheaper than a car.
La bicicletta è più economica dell'automobile.
Now, what you want to pay attention to is when to choose between di and che, to express then.
But don't worry, there are rules.
Di is used when the two terms of comparison are nouns.
Like in this case, it can be proper noun, so a person, or just a thing.
Like we just said,
Luca è più alto di Marco.
La bicicletta è più economica dell'automobile.
Another noun, right?
You also use that with pronouns.
For example, io sono più giovane di te.
I'm younger than you.
I don't know if it's true.
Anyway, di te, di lui, di lei works the same.
Meanwhile, che is used when you're comparing two verbs.
For example, giocare è più divertente che studiare.
Playing is funnier, more exciting than studying.
Giocare è più divertente che studiare.
Che is also used in between adjectives.
For example, Maria è più bella che intelligente.
I'm sorry, too many Maria out there.
I just thought of a random example.
Maria is more beautiful than intelligent.
Quelle scarpe, those shoes, sono più belle che comode.
Those shoes are more beautiful than comfortable, actually.
Più belle che.
Che is also used with prepositions.
For example, in Piemonte fa più freddo che in Sicilia.
Piemonte is a region in northern Italy, so in Piemonte fa più freddo.
In Piemonte is colder than in Sicily.
Che in Sicilia.
There are also cases when you can use both, for example with adverbs like
Oggi fa più freddo di ieri.
You can also say Oggi fa più freddo che ieri.
It actually depends like on regions or where you're from.
We understand it the same and you don't have to think too much about that.
You can just go with the flow.
The same goes with comparativo di minoranza, so minority.
The only thing that changes is that instead of Più, so more, you use meno, less.
Luca è meno alto di Marco.
Luca is shorter than Marco, and so on.
While for comparativo di ugualianza, so when the degree is the same, equality,
you use the pattern Tanto quanto, or Così come.
Always in between the two terms of comparison.
For example, Luca è tanto bello quanto intelligente.
Luca is so beautiful as much as clever, intelligent.
Tanto quanto, as much as.
Quel palazzo è alto quanto casa mia.
Sometimes we don't put tanto.
Quel palazzo è alto come casa mia.
Non sono tanto bella quanto te.
I'm not that beautiful as you.
I'm not as much beautiful as you are.
I'm not beautiful like you.
Non sono bella quanto te.
While speaking of the superlative, so when you want to express that equality is possessed
to the top, like it exceeds every expectation, like there's no comparison, it's absolute, right?
Superlativo.
There are actually two types of superlative.
As you may know, the relative, il relativo, for example,
Maria è la più bella tra le ragazze.
Maria is the most beautiful among the girls.
So we set, we specify a group in which they are the most beautiful or the most something else, right?
L'italiano è la lingua più difficile tra le lingue europee.
This may not be true, but Italian is the most difficult language among European languages.
The important part is the, la, più, so the most.
Più is the same, both for more and most.
The thing is, without the article is just more, with the article is most.
La più, il più bello, tra i ragazzi, among the guys.
While if you don't want to specify a group, you just want to say that it really is the best,
doesn't matter what we're talking about.
L'italiano è bellissimo.
So you addissimo to the adjective.
L'italiano è bellissimo.
So you could say l'italiano è più bello del francese.
Sorry, no offense.
Italian is more beautiful than French.
Più bello di.
And it's just comparison between two terms, right?
L'italiano è la più bella tra le lingue.
Italian is the most beautiful among languages.
Or l'italiano è bellissimo.
Italian is beautiful.
L'italiano è bellissimo.
Italian is the most beautiful.
It's beautiful.
It's superlativo, superlativo, right?
And you can use that with everything.
Altissimo, purissimo, difficilissimo, complicatissimo.
Just addissimo.
So let me know in the comments what is the most difficult thing in Italian.
Cosa è più difficile in italiano?
In my opinion, parlare, in any language actually, parlare è più difficile che capire.
So speaking is more difficult than understanding.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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There you can find more lessons as well.
And that's all for this video.
But I'll see you soon.
Thanks for watching.
Ciao ciao.
Bye bye.

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