# Good, Bad: (ir)regular comparative, superlative



## dihydrogen monoxide

Are comparative and superlative of the adjectives good and bad irregular in your language?


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## RoadFox

If I have understood the question properly the answer is (adj/comp/sup):

good, better, best
bad, worse, worst

So yes, I guess they are slightly irregular, although English seems to do its own thing most of the time...


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## dihydrogen monoxide

Yes you did, but I'm interested in other languages if they do the same thing.


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## Hakro

*Finnish:*

good: hyvä, parempi, paras (irregular)
bad: huono, huonompi huonoin (regular)
- or: paha, pahempi, pahin (more or less regular)


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## kusurija

In Czech both are irregular:
Good: 
Dobrý - lepší - nejlepší
Bad:
Špatný - horší - nejhorší


In Lithuanian both are regular:
Good:
I. Geras, II. geresnis, IIa. gerėlesnis, III. geriausias, IIIa. pats geriausias
Bad:
I. Blogas, II. blogesnis, IIa. blogėlesnis, III. blogiausias, IIIa. pats blogiausias


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch* we have the following:
good: goed - beter - best (irregular)
bad: slecht - slechter - slechtst (regular)

Groetjes,

Frank


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## jazyk

They are irregular in Portuguese:

bom - melhor - o melhor
mau - pior - o pior


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## Kangy

^ Also in Spanish:

bueno - mejor - el mejor
malo - peor - el peor


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## dihydrogen monoxide

kusurija said:


> IIIa. pats blogiausias



I don't get the IIIa. parts. What is it?


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## franz rod

> good, better, best
> bad, worse, worst



In Italian:
Buono, migliore, ottimo.
Cattivo, peggiore, pessimo.


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## jazyk

I thought of ótimo and péssimo when giving my answer for Portuguese, but I don't think you'd use them exactly in the same cases where you'd use _the best_ and _the worst_ in English: Who's the best/worst student in the class? In Portuguese: Quem é o melhor (not ótimo)/pior (not péssimo) aluno da classe? In Italian: Chi è il miglior(e) (not ottimo)/peggior(e) (not pessimo) alunno della classe?


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## DearPrudence

Irregular in French too:

*bon *- meilleur - le meilleur
*bien *- mieux - le mieux

*mauvais *- pire - le pire


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## Corsicum

Corsican :
bonu, migliò, u migliò
gattivu, peghju, u peghju


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## kusurija

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> I don't get the IIIa. parts. What is it?


Absolute superlative. III. superlative as it is. Means superlative of mentioned or mean group. IIIa. - absolute superlative means superlative out of scope of mentioned either. (Excuse my poor English, I'm not sure, if You can understand it by this my not very clear explanation. E.g. 
Aukščiausias (III.) kalnas Europoje yra Monblanas (III.) - bet pats aukščiausias (IIIa.) kalnas yra Olimpas Marse.
The highest mountain in Europe is Mt. Blanc, but [absolutely] highest mountain is Olympus in [planet] Mars.


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## elroy

Arabic:

جيد، أفضل، الأفضل (_jayyid, afDal, al-afDal_) - good, better, best
سيء، أسوء، الأسوء (_sayyi', aswa', al-aswa'_) - bad, worse, worst

I suppose the first set could be considered "irregular," but really it's just that we use the comparative and superlative forms of a different (less common) adjective.  The positive form, in turn, has its own comparative and superlative forms, but they are not common.

The second set is regular.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

Are these examples for Standard Arabic, if you know can you cite some examples of other varieties of Arabic (Egyptian,Iraqian....)?


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## amikama

Fortunately, in Hebrew there is *no* adjective with irregular comparative and superlative forms! All of these forms are formed the same way:

good - better - best
טוב - טוב יותר - הטוב ביותר/הכי טוב

bad - worse - worst
רע - רע יותר - הרע ביותר/הכי רע

(There are two superlative forms in Hebrew.)


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## dihydrogen monoxide

^It would be of much help if you transcribe it into Roman alphabet. What does two superlative forms mean? Can they be used synonymously and if not what is the difference?


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## elroy

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> Are these examples for Standard Arabic, if you know can you cite some examples of other varieties of Arabic (Egyptian,Iraqian....)?


 Palestinian Arabic:

منيح، أحسن، أحسن واحد (_mniiH, aHsan, aHsan waaHad_)
مش منيح / عاطل، أعطل، أعطل واحد (_mish imniiH / `aaTel, a`Tal, a`Tal waaHad_)

It's the same idea in Palestinian Arabic.  _aHsan_ is the comparative form of the adjective _Hasan_, which is not used in Palestinian Arabic.  The comparative form of _mniiH_ would be _amnaH_ in theory, but it's not used (except in jest, in rapid speech, or by little children who still inflect everything regularly).

For "bad," there are two possibilities.  The most common way to say "bad" is _mish imniiH_, which literally means "not good," but obviously that doesn't have its own comparative or superlative forms.  So the comparative and superlative forms of _`aaTel_ (which can also mean "bad") are used.

Notice that the comparative forms and superlative forms are actually the same.  The word _waaHad_ means "one," so adding it to a comparative form makes it superlative ("better" > "the best one").  Similarly, _aHsan iktaab_ means "the best book," _aHsan maT`am_ means "the best restaurant," etc.

Transliterations of the Hebrew forms:


amikama said:


> good - better - best
> טוב - טוב יותר - הטוב ביותר/הכי טוב
> tov - tov yoter - hatov beyoter / hachi tov
> 
> bad - worse - worst
> רע - רע יותר - הרע ביותר/הכי רע
> ra' - ra' yoter - hara' beyoter / hachi ra'


 I don't think there is much of a difference between the two superlative forms, but Amikama will have to give you a definite answer on that.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

Maybe you could give me a definite answer, since you speak Palestinian Arabic, you might just as well speak Hebrew or am I wrong? Notice, I said, maybe, so if you don't know the answer, you don't have to give it.


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## elroy

I speak Hebrew, but it's not my native language.  If I had a definite answer, I would have given it.


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## amikama

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> What does two superlative forms mean? Can they be used synonymously and if not what is the difference?


 


elroy said:


> I don't think there is much of a difference between the two superlative forms, but Amikama will have to give you a definite answer on that.


Elroy is right: they mean the same, but the ביותר forms are usually used in a bit higher register, whereas the הכי forms are more colloquial.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

Does that go for all comparatives and superlatives in Hebrew?


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## Piotr_WRF

In Polish it is:

good, better, the best - dobry, lepszy, najlepszy
bad, worse, the worst - zły, gorszy, najgorszy

So yes, both are irregular.


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## amikama

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> Does that go for all comparatives and superlatives in Hebrew?


For all superlatives, yes. (There is only one comparative form, so the question is irrelevant here.)


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## Panda Nocta

There's suppletivity here with Russian:
хороший-лучше-[наи]лучший
плохой-хуже-[наи]худший


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## Kanes

In Bulgarian comparative and superlative are just prefixes, so it is the same for any word.

comparative = po-
superlative = nai-


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> Arabic:
> 
> جيد، أفضل، الأفضل (_jayyid, afDal, al-afDal_) - good, better, best
> سيء، أسوء، الأسوء (_sayyi', aswa', al-aswa'_) - bad, worse, worst



Actually, I wouldn't consider the first to be irregular becuase as you said it's just people's choices of words when speaking but in reality both words have the complete forms:

جيد، أجود، الأجود (jayyid, ajwad, al-ajwad)
فاضل، أفضل، الأفضل (faDil, afDal, al-afDal)


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## elroy

Yes, that's sort of what I tried to say.


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## Alijsh

All comparatives and superlatives form regularly in Persian. The comparative is made by suffixing -tar to the adjective and the superlative forms by adding the superlative suffix -in to the comparative (the superlative suffix has also other uses):

good, better, the best - beh, behtar, behtarin
bad, worse, the worst - bad, badtar, badtarin

However, instead of "beh" we use "khub" but it's a matter of usage and there is no irregularity in formation.


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## bb3ca201

Scottish Gaelic (really irregular!):

Good - math
better - nas fheàrr
best - as fheàrr

bad - dona
worse - nas miosa
worst - as miosa


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## dihydrogen monoxide

bb3ca201 said:


> Scottish Gaelic (really irregular!):
> 
> Good - math
> better - nas fheàrr
> best - as fheàrr
> 
> bad - dona
> worse - nas miosa
> worst - as miosa


 
And I suppose Irish Gaelic is too?


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## Hermocrates

franz rod said:


> In Italian:
> Buono, migliore, ottimo.
> Cattivo, peggiore, pessimo.



Just wanted to add that they are considered "irregular". 


Rye


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## bb3ca201

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> And I suppose Irish Gaelic is too?


 
I think that the Irish Gaelic translations are similar, but I'm not 100% sure.  Perhaps an Irish Gaelic speaker could advise?


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## Banbha

bb3ca201 said:


> I think that the Irish Gaelic translations are similar, but I'm not 100% sure. Perhaps an Irish Gaelic speaker could advise?


 
Good=> maith, níos fearr, is fearr
Bad=> olc, níos measa, is measa


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## Lugubert

Swedish:
bra, bättre, bäst
dålig, sämre, sämst
2x irregular.


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## serkan

In Turkish;

Good, better, best
iyi, daha iyi, en iyi

Bad, worse, worst
kötü, daha kötü, en kötü


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## Favara

Catalan:

good, better = bo (_f. _bona), millor
bad, worse = dolent/roïn (_f._ dolenta/roïna), pitjor
Both irregular.


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
Good=Καλός (καλή, καλό), Καλύτερος (καλύτερη, καλύτερο), κάλλιστος (κάλλιστη, κάλλιστο)/kal*o*s (kal*i* _f._, kal*o* _n._), kal*i*teros (kal*i*teri _f._, kal*i*tero _n._), k*a*listos (k*a*listi _f._, k*a*listo _n._).
Bad=Κακός (κακή, κακό), χειρότερος (χειρότερη, χειρότερο), χείριστος (χείριστη, χείριστο)/kak*o*s (kak*i* _f._, kak*o* _n._), xir*o*teros (xir*o*teri _f._, xir*o*tero _n._), x*i*ristos (x*i*risti _f._, x*i*risto _n._).


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## sakvaka

Lugubert said:


> Swedish:
> god/bra, bättre, bäst
> dålig, sämre, sämst
> 2x irregular.



I have been taught that when you're talking about food the "good forms" are regular.

So this becomes:

god/bra, bättre, bäst
god, godare, godast (when talking about food)
dålig, sämre, sämst


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## Encolpius

in *Hungarian *no irregular forms

jó - jobb - legjobb (good)

rossz - rosszabb - legrosszabb (bad)


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## marco.cur

jazyk said:


> I thought of ótimo and péssimo when giving my answer for Portuguese, but I don't think you'd use them exactly in the same cases where you'd use _the best_ and _the worst_ in English: Who's the best/worst student in the class? In Portuguese: Quem é o melhor (not ótimo)/pior (not péssimo) aluno da classe? In Italian: Chi è il miglior(e) (not ottimo)/peggior(e) (not pessimo) alunno della classe?


Yes.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superlative#In_English:

_Portuguese and Italian distinguish comparative superlative (superlativo relativo), and absolute superlative (superlativo absoluto/assoluto)._


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## phosphore

Serbian:

good, better, the best - _dobar, bolji, najbolji_ (irregular)
bad, worse, the worst - _loš, gori, najgori_ (irregular) or _lošiji, najlošiji_ (regular)


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## J.F. de TROYES

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek:
> Good=Καλός (καλή, καλό), Καλύτερος (καλύτερη, καλύτερο), κάλλιστος (κάλλιστη, κάλλιστο)/kal*o*s (kal*i* _f._, kal*o* _n._), kal*i*teros (kal*i*teri _f._, kal*i*tero _n._), k*a*listos (k*a*listi _f._, k*a*listo _n._).
> Bad=Κακός (κακή, κακό), χειρότερος (χειρότερη, χειρότερο), χείριστος (χείριστη, χείριστο)/kak*o*s (kak*i* _f._, kak*o* _n._), xir*o*teros (xir*o*teri _f._, xir*o*tero _n._), x*i*ristos (x*i*risti _f._, x*i*risto _n._).


I'd like to add old Greek :

Good :   ἀγαθός  -  βελτιών   -   βέλτιστος  

Bad  :   κακός    -   χείρων    -   χείριστος

In old greek  _kαλός _means  _beautiful_.

Forms are more irregular than in modern Greek.


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