New
New
Deutsche Städte: comparative adjectives
I can use comparative adjectives to draw comparisons between places and to enhance descriptions.
Lesson 11 of 13
New
New
- Year 11
- AQA
Deutsche Städte: comparative adjectives
I can use comparative adjectives to draw comparisons between places and to enhance descriptions.
Lesson details
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- Turn an adjective into a comparative adjective by adding '-er', e.g., 'schneller'.
- To say 'than' when making a comparison, use 'als', e.g., 'meine Stadt ist größer als dein Dorf'.
- Some adjectives also gain an umlaut in the comparative form, e.g., 'jünger'.
- Adjectives ending -el or -er remove the penultimate ‘e’, e.g., 'teurer', 'dunkler'.
- Comparatives can be useful for developing opinions, reasons and ideas when writing descriptions.
Keywords
Comparative - a form of adjective or adverb used to compare people, places, things or ideas
Common misconception
German forms comparatives in the same way as English.
To form the comparative in German, add '-er' to the adjective. This applies in English, but only for short adjectives. For longer adjectives, we add 'more' before the adjective. This is never the case in German.
Following on from Tasks B1a and B1b about Rothenburg, students might like to research another German town and compare it with their own home town. This could also feed into their written response to Task C1.
Teacher tip
Equipment
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
Lesson video
Loading...
Some of our videos, including non-English language videos, do not have captions.
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which word is not an adjective?
Which word is not an adjective?
hell
leicht
musikalisch
traurig
Q2.Match the German and English.
Match the German and English.
Q3.Match the German and English.
Match the German and English.
Q4.Order the words to say: 'The river is both wide and deep.'
Order the words to say: 'The river is both wide and deep.'
Q5.Write in English: 'Er ist älter als ich.'
Write in English: 'Er ist älter als ich.'
Q6.Write in German: 'The fruit was bad.'
Write in German: 'The fruit was bad.'
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.What is the acronym which can be used to plan responses to writing tasks?
What is the acronym which can be used to plan responses to writing tasks?
Q2.Which comparatives are correct?
Which comparatives are correct?
mehr interessant
interessantes
junger
Q3.Match the adjectives to the correct comparatives.
Match the adjectives to the correct comparatives.
Q4.Write in German: 'more expensive than'.
Write in German: 'more expensive than'.
