The main grammar that we had this week was de vergrotende trap (comparative) and de overtreffende trap (superlative).
English: good, better, best
Dutch: goed, beter, het best(e)
trap in Dutch means stairs. Officially this chapter only comparatives, although we’ve had both a few times in the last week. For me it’s one of those things where I just “use it”, but don’t exactly know the rules behind it in either language.
Comparative –
bijvoeglijk naamwoord + er:
groot -> groter (big, bigger)
klein -> kleiner (small, smaller)
As you can see, English has the same basic rule – add -er. Sometimes you have to add -der, though – when the noun ends in r.
bijvoeglijk naamwoord + der:
donker -> donkerder (dark, darker)
lekker -> lekkerder (tasty, tastier)
And then the words that don’t fit the pattern at all, just make kids and students crazy:
veel -> meer (much -> more)
weinig -> minder (little -> less)
graag -> liever (like -> prefer)
goed -> beter (good -> better)
Patat is lekkerder dan spaghetti. Fries are tastier than spaghetti.
Een auto is kleiner dan een vliegtuig. A car is smaller than an airplane.
If you want to say the two objects are the same, you have a few choices:
even … als (or: evenveel … als)
net zo … als
English (just as … as)
De blauwe sjaal is even mooi als de rode sjaal. The blue scarf is just as pretty as the red scarf.
And there you have it – comparatives or de vergrotende trap. Perhaps I can cover superlatives and de overtreffende trap.
Life in the Hague 