{"id":1301,"date":"2010-09-29T21:36:27","date_gmt":"2010-09-29T20:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/?p=1301"},"modified":"2010-10-10T21:49:38","modified_gmt":"2010-10-10T20:49:38","slug":"superlatives-in-german","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/1301\/superlatives-in-german","title":{"rendered":"How to use Superlatives in German"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"superlatives<\/a>The Best Most Super Superlatives in German<\/h3>\n

In this post we want to look at expressing yourself with superlatives in German. In English, superlatives are written with est<\/strong><\/em> on the end, e.g. easiest, strongest, tallest etc.<\/p>\n

In German, you add ste <\/strong>or este <\/strong>to the simple form of the adjective. Adjectives that end in -t, -tz, -z, -sch, -ss, –<\/strong>\u00df, au <\/strong>and eu <\/strong>are the ones that would use este, <\/strong>the rest would use ste. <\/strong>If the adjective is describing something plural, you add an -n <\/strong>to the end.<\/p>\n

Lets look at some examples of Superlatives in German:<\/h3>\n

Das ist das schnellste<\/strong> Auto (schnell) \u2013 That is the fastest car<\/p>\n

Ich habe die neuesten<\/strong> Schuhe (neu) \u2013 I have the newest shoes<\/p>\n

Sie ist die sch\u00f6nste<\/strong> Frau (sch\u00f6n) \u2013 She is the most beautiful woman<\/p>\n

This is of course not the end of the story with superlatives in German. Word order can affect how the superlative is formed. Consider the following example:<\/p>\n

Q- <\/strong>Who is the fastest man?<\/p>\n

A- <\/strong>He is the fastest man or<\/strong><\/p>\n

A- <\/strong>That man is the fastest<\/p>\n

In this example, the superlative in English is written the same the fastest<\/strong>. This isn’t the case with superlatives in German. Here is the same example in German:<\/p>\n

A- <\/strong>Er ist der schnellste<\/strong> Mann<\/p>\n

A- <\/strong>Dieser Mann ist am<\/strong> schnellsten<\/strong><\/p>\n

This form of superlative is constructed with am <\/strong>before the adjective followed by -sten <\/strong>or -esten <\/strong>at the end and is used when the adjective appears at the end of the sentence.<\/p>\n

Some more examples:<\/h3>\n

Marys Katze ist s\u00fc\u00df aber meine Katze ist am<\/strong> s\u00fc\u00dfesten \u2013<\/strong> Marys cat is cute but my cat is the cutest<\/p>\n

Ich habe drei Tanten und Lisa ist am<\/strong> kleinsten \u2013 <\/strong>I have three aunts and Lisa is the smallest<\/p>\n

In Hannover war es heute kalt, aber in M\u00fcnchen war es am<\/strong> k\u00e4ltesten \u2013 <\/strong>It was cold today in Hannover but in Munich it was the coldest.<\/p>\n

And what about the Cases?<\/h3>\n

The ending of a superlative will change according to the case. But don’t panic. The rules for the endings are pretty straight forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nNominative<\/strong><\/td>\nAccusative<\/strong><\/td>\nDative<\/strong><\/td>\nGenetive<\/strong> (posessive)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
der<\/strong><\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
die<\/strong><\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
das<\/strong><\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
plural (der\/die\/das)<\/strong><\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Here are some example sentences for every case:<\/p>\n

Nominative:<\/strong>
\nEr ist der sch\u00f6nste Mann der Welt. – He is the most beautiful man in the world.
\nSie ist die sch\u00f6nste Frau der Welt. – She is the most beautiful woman in the world.
\nDas ist das schnellste Auto der Welt. – This is the fastest car in the world.
\nSie sind die sch\u00f6nsten M\u00e4nner der Welt. – These are the most beautiful men in the world.<\/p>\n

Accusative: <\/strong>
\nIch sehe den sch\u00f6nsten<\/strong> Mann der Welt. – I see the most beautiful man in the world.
\nIch sehe die sch\u00f6nste Frau der Welt. – I see the most beautiful woman in the world.
\nIch sehe das sch\u00f6nste Haus der Welt. – I see the most beautiful house in the world.
\nIch sehe die sch\u00f6nsten Frauen der Welt. – I see the most beautiful women in the world.<\/p>\n

Dative:<\/strong>
\nIch gab dem \u00e4ltesten Mann einen Apfel. – I gave the oldest man an apple.
\nIch gab der \u00e4ltesten Frau einen Apfel. – I gave the oldest woman an apple.
\nIch gab dem sch\u00f6nsten M\u00e4dchen einen Kuss. – I gave the most beautiful girl a kiss.
\nIch gab den j\u00fcngsten Kindern einen Apfel. – I gave the youngest kids an apple.<\/p>\n

Genitive:<\/strong>
\nDas Auto des j\u00fcngsten Lehrers ist schwarz. – The car of the youngest teacher is black.
\nDas Auto der j\u00fcngsten Lehrerin ist rot. – The car of the youngest teacher (female) is red.
\nDas Kleid des j\u00fcngsten M\u00e4dchens ist blau. – The dress of the youngest girl is blue.
\nDie H\u00e4user der reichsten M\u00e4nner sind in L.A. – The houses of the richest men are in L.A.<\/p>\n

Here are some adjectives and both their superlatives in German:<\/h3>\n

alt<\/strong> (old) – am \u00e4ltesten or\u00a0der\/die\/das \u00e4lteste<\/p>\n

gro\u00df<\/strong> (tall\/big) – am gr\u00f6\u00dften or der\/die\/das gr\u00f6\u00dfte<\/p>\n

jung<\/strong> (young) – am j\u00fcngsten or der\/die\/das j\u00fcngste<\/p>\n

klein<\/strong> (small) – am kleinsten or der\/die\/das kleinste<\/p>\n

klug<\/strong> (clever) – am kl\u00fcgsten or der\/die\/das kl\u00fcgste<\/p>\n

langsam<\/strong> (slow) -am langsamsten or der\/die\/das langsamste<\/p>\n

nett<\/strong> (nice) – am nettesten or der\/die\/das netteste<\/p>\n

schnell<\/strong> (fast) – am schnellsten or der\/die\/das schnellste<\/p>\n

sch\u00f6n<\/strong> (beautiful) – am sch\u00f6nsten or der\/die\/das sch\u00f6nste<\/p>\n

You may also want to brush up on How to use German Adjectives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Best Most Super Superlatives in German In this post we want to look at expressing yourself with superlatives in German. In English, superlatives are written with est on the end, e.g. easiest, strongest, tallest etc. In German, you add ste or este to the simple form of the adjective. Adjectives that end in -t, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1301"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15053,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301\/revisions\/15053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}