4.03: Il comparativo

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    The comparative 

    In Italian we use più di/che [more than] and meno di/che [less than] to compare two items (two people, two objects, two places, two activities, etc.).

    There is no form like -er in Italian (Evviva! One less thing to learn.)

    Più di and meno di

    • We use più di and meno di when comparing two items with one adjective:

    Questi pantaloni sono più leggeri di quelli.  [These pants are lighter than those.]

    Questi pantaloni sono meno leggeri di quelli.  [These pants are less light than those.]

    • We use più di and meno di with adverbs:

    Luca si veste più elegantemente di me.  [Luca dresses more elegantly than me.]

    Luca si veste meno elegantemente di me.  [Luca dresses less elegantly than me.]

    Often, you will have to use the compound preposition di + articles:

    La mia gonna è più cara della tua.  [di + la tua = della tua] [My skirt is more expensive than yours.]

    I miei occhiali da sole sono meno cari degli occhiali da sole di Anastasia.  [di + gli occhiali = degli occhiali] [My sunglasses are less expensive than Anastasia’s sunglasses.]

    Più che and meno che

    • We use più che and meno che when comparing two activities (two verbs):

    Fare shopping è meno divertenteche andare a ballare.  [Going shopping is less fun than going dancing.]

    • We use più che and meno che when comparing quantities:

    Ci sono più magliette che scarpe nel tuo armadio.  [There are more t-shirts than shoes in your closet.]

    • We use più che and meno che when comparing two qualities of the same item:

    Il vestito di Roberta è più stravagante che originale.  [Roberta’s dress is weirder than it is original.]

    • We use più che and meno che before a preposition:

    Ci sono meno negozi d’abbigliamento a Torino che a Milano. [There are fewer clothing stores in Turin than in Milan.]

    (Tanto) quanto and come

    • To say that two items are equal we use (tanto) … quanto and come [as…as]:

    La tua borsa è tanto grande quanto la sua. [Your purse is as big as hers.]

    La tua borsa è grande quanto la sua.  [Your purse is as big as hers.]

    La tua borsa è grande come la sua.  [Your purse is as big as hers.]

    • When comparing quantities, tanto and quanto must agree with the items they refer to:

    Ho tanti jeans quante gonne. [I have as many jeans as I have skirts.]

     

    This page titled 4.03: Il comparativo was last modified on Thu, 10 Mar 2022 21:38:16 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Daniel Leisawitz and Daniela Viale via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.