Most Afrikaans adjectives form the comparative with -er and the superlative with -ste (groot → groter → grootste), exactly as covered on the comparative and superlative pages. But the half-dozen most frequent quality words refuse to play along. Just as English has good → better → best rather than gooder, Afrikaans has goed → beter → beste, and a handful of others where the comparative and superlative come from a completely different root — what linguists call suppletion. Because these are the words you use most, their irregular forms are unavoidable from your first week, and there is no logical shortcut: you must memorise them. The good news is that the list is short and maps neatly onto its English counterparts. This page lays out the full set, including the high-value liewer / liefste, which is how Afrikaans says "rather" and "prefer."
The full table of irregulars
| Base | Meaning | Comparative | Superlative | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| goed | good / well | beter | beste | good → better → best |
| sleg | bad | slegter / erger | slegste / ergste | bad → worse → worst |
| baie | much / many | meer | meeste | much/many → more → most |
| min | little / few | minder | minste | little/few → less/fewer → least/fewest |
| weinig | few (formal) | minder | minste | few → fewer → fewest |
| na | near, close | nader | naaste | near → nearer → nearest |
| graag | gladly (adv.) | liewer | liefste | gladly → rather → most of all |
Several of these are truly suppletive — beter and meeste share no root with goed and baie, just as better shares none with good. Others are only mildly irregular (na → nader → naaste, where the superlative loses the expected pattern and doubles the a). We take them in groups.
goed → beter → beste
This is the most important triple, because goed is everywhere. The comparative is beter ("better"), the superlative beste ("best"). Both follow the normal "than = as" rule for comparison (never dan — see as vs dan), and the superlative usually takes die ("the").
Hierdie koffie is beter as die een wat ons gister gehad het.
This coffee is better than the one we had yesterday.
Sy is die beste dokter wat ek nog ooit gehad het.
She's the best doctor I've ever had.
Dit sal beter wees as ons vroeg vertrek.
It would be better if we leave early.
Note that goed also serves as the adverb "well," and its comparison is the same: Hy speel beter as sy broer ("He plays better than his brother").
sleg → slegter / erger
"Bad" has two competing comparatives. The regular slegter / slegste is built straight from sleg and is the everyday choice. Alongside it sits the suppletive erger / ergste ("worse / worst"), which is stronger and more emphatic — used when things are not merely worse but genuinely bad, often about situations, pain, or news.
Die verkeer is vandag slegter as gewoonlik.
The traffic is worse than usual today.
Dit kon erger gewees het — niemand is beseer nie.
It could have been worse — nobody was hurt.
Dis die ergste storm in jare.
It's the worst storm in years.
A useful rule of thumb: for a plain comparison of quality, slegter is fine; for "things took a turn for the worse" or a strong superlative, reach for erger / ergste. English does the opposite of splitting these — it uses worse for both — so this is one spot where Afrikaans gives you two tools where English has one.
baie → meer → meeste and min → minder → minste
These two are a mirror image of each other — the "more" axis and the "less" axis of quantity — and they are worth learning as a pair.
baie ("much, many, very") has the comparative meer ("more") and superlative meeste ("most"). Note meer is the same word used to build meer interessant ("more interesting") for long adjectives, so it does double duty.
Ek het meer geld nodig as wat ek gedink het.
I need more money than I thought.
Die meeste mense verkies die nuwe weergawe.
Most people prefer the new version.
min ("little, few") has the comparative minder ("less, fewer") and superlative minste ("least, fewest"). Crucially, Afrikaans does not split "less" and "fewer" the way careful English does — minder covers both countable and uncountable, so minder mense ("fewer people") and minder water ("less water") use the same word with no fuss.
Hierdie jaar het ons minder reën gekry as verlede jaar.
This year we got less rain than last year.
Hy is die minste bekommerd van ons almal.
He's the least worried of all of us.
The formal weinig ("few") shares minder / minste as its comparison and is mostly limited to written or formal registers; in speech you will almost always hear min.
na → nader → naaste
"Near" comparison is mostly regular but the superlative surprises you: na → nader → naaste. The comparative nader ("nearer, closer") behaves normally, but the superlative is naaste ("nearest, closest") with a doubled aa, and it is an extremely common word in directions and relationships (die naaste winkel "the nearest shop"; my naaste familie "my closest family").
Waar is die naaste petrolstasie?
Where's the nearest petrol station?
Kom 'n bietjie nader, ek kan jou nie hoor nie.
Come a little closer, I can't hear you.
liewer / liefste: how to say "rather" and "prefer"
This is the high-value form on the page, and the one competitors usually bury. Afrikaans does have a plain verb for "to prefer" — verkies (Ek verkies tee bo koffie, "I prefer tea to coffee") — but in everyday speech the far more idiomatic move is to use the comparative of the adverb graag ("gladly, with pleasure"). Its irregular comparative liewer means "rather / preferably," and its superlative liefste means "most of all / favourite." Note that verkies pairs the compared thing with bo ("over"), never as; the liewer construction uses as.
So "I prefer tea" usually comes out as "I rather drink tea":
Ek drink liewer tee as koffie.
I prefer tea to coffee. (lit. I rather drink tea than coffee.)
Ek sou liewer wou tuisbly vanaand.
I'd rather stay home tonight.
Wat ek die liefste doen, is in die tuin werk.
What I love doing most is working in the garden.
This construction is everywhere in natural speech, and learners who only know regular comparison miss it entirely, producing stilted circumlocutions. Burn in the pattern: liewer = "rather / prefer," liefste = "most of all / favourite." Pair it with as for the thing you prefer over (liewer X as Y). The full behaviour of graag and its forms is on graag and liewer.
Sy stap liewer werk toe as om in die verkeer te sit.
She'd rather walk to work than sit in traffic.
A note on spelling: liewer, liefste
Two spelling points are worth flagging. The comparative is liewer with a w (the f of the root surfaces as w between vowels — the same f/w alternation seen across Afrikaans). The superlative is liefste, where the f reappears before the consonant s. So the root alternates lief / lie*w-* depending on what follows, but neither form takes any diacritic.
Common mistakes
❌ Hierdie een is meer goed as daardie een.
Incorrect — 'good' has a suppletive comparative: beter, not meer goed.
✅ Hierdie een is beter as daardie een.
This one is better than that one.
❌ goeder / die goedste
Incorrect — you can't regularise goed; it is beter / beste.
✅ beter / die beste
better / the best
❌ Ek verkies tee as koffie.
Incorrect — verkies takes bo, not as: Ek verkies tee bo koffie. In casual speech most speakers say Ek drink liewer tee as koffie.
✅ Ek drink liewer tee as koffie.
I prefer tea to coffee.
❌ Ons het minste reën gekry as verlede jaar.
Incorrect — comparative is minder; minste is the superlative ('least').
✅ Ons het minder reën gekry as verlede jaar.
We got less rain than last year.
❌ die naste winkel
Incorrect — the superlative of na doubles the a: naaste.
✅ die naaste winkel
the nearest shop
Key takeaways
- The high-frequency adjectives are suppletive and must be memorised: goed → beter → beste, baie → meer → meeste, min → minder → minste, na → nader → naaste.
- "Bad" has two comparatives: regular slegter/slegste for plain comparison, suppletive erger/ergste for "worse/worst" in a strong or situational sense.
- minder covers both "less" and "fewer" — Afrikaans never makes you choose.
- liewer / liefste (from the adverb graag) is the idiomatic way to say "rather" and "prefer": Ek drink liewer tee as koffie. Use as for the thing preferred over; see graag and liewer.
- "Than" in all of these is as, never dan — see as vs dan.
- Spelling: liewer (w between vowels) / liefste (f before s), naaste (doubled a), no diacritics anywhere. Regular comparison is on comparative and superlative.
Now practice Afrikaans
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Comparatives: -er and meerA2 — How Afrikaans builds the comparative — most adjectives add -er (groter, duurder), longer ones take meer, and 'than' is always as, never dan.
- Superlatives: -ste and die meesA2 — The superlative adds -ste and an obligatory die (die grootste, die mooiste); long adjectives use die mees, and the article die clings on even in places where English would drop 'the'.
- graag, liewer and Expressing PreferenceB1 — How Afrikaans says 'like doing' and 'would rather' with the adverb ladder graag → liewer → die graagste/liefste, instead of a verb meaning 'prefer'.
- as vs dan ('than' for comparison)A2 — Afrikaans uses as — not dan — for 'than' in comparisons, the exact opposite of Dutch, and the single clearest comparison trap for Dutch-background learners.
- Stem Changes with Attributive -eB1 — The spelling changes the attributive -e triggers — hoog→hoë, oud→ou, lief→liewe, dof→dowwe — grouped into predictable classes you can reason about, not memorise.
- Adverbs of Degree: baie, te, so, redelik, gladA2 — How to dial intensity up or down in Afrikaans — baie (very/much), te (too), so (so), redelik/taamlik (fairly), heeltemal (completely), genoeg (enough), and the negative glad nie / hoegenaamd nie.