The regular Danish comparison pattern is simple — add -ere for the comparative and -est for the superlative (hurtig → hurtigere → hurtigst). But a small set of the most-used adjectives in the language form their comparatives the way English forms good/better/best: by reaching for a different root entirely, or by changing the stem vowel. Because these adjectives are so frequent — god, dårlig, stor, lille, gammel, ung, mange, meget — you will use the irregular forms far more often than any regular ones. They are worth memorising cold.
If you speak English, you already have the right instinct. English has good → better → best, bad → worse → worst, much → more → most, many → more → most, little → less → least. Danish has the same kinds of irregularity in the same kinds of words — often the very same words historically. The challenge is that the Danish forms look just different enough to trip you up, and that Danish keeps the many/much distinction in the comparative (where English collapses both to more).
The full table
| Base | Comparative | Superlative | Meaning | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| god | bedre | bedst | good | suppletive |
| dårlig / ond | værre | værst | bad | suppletive |
| gammel | ældre | ældst | old | umlaut |
| ung | yngre | yngst | young | umlaut |
| stor | større | størst | big | umlaut |
| lille | mindre | mindst | small / little | suppletive |
| lang | længere | længst | long | umlaut |
| mange | flere | flest | many (count) | suppletive |
| meget | mere | mest | much (mass) | suppletive |
| få | færre | færrest | few | suppletive |
| nær | nærmere | nærmest | near / close | irregular |
Three notes before the examples. Dårlig and ond both feed into værre/værst — dårlig is the everyday word for "bad/poor", ond leans toward "evil/wicked", but their comparison is shared. Dårlig also has a regular comparison dårligere/dårligst used for "worse in quality/performance"; værre is preferred for "worse" in the sense of a situation deteriorating. And nær keeps an -mere/-mest pattern (nærmere, nærmest) rather than plain -ere, which is why it sits apart.
Suppletive comparatives — a different root
In suppletion the comparative comes from a stem unrelated to the base — exactly like good → better. There is nothing to "derive"; you memorise the word.
Maden var god, men desserten var endnu bedre.
The food was good, but the dessert was even better.
Det er den bedste film, jeg har set i år.
It's the best film I've seen this year.
Vejret blev værre i løbet af eftermiddagen.
The weather got worse over the course of the afternoon.
Min lillebror er to år yngre end mig, men han er højere.
My little brother is two years younger than me, but he's taller.
Notice lille → mindre → mindst: the adjective whose plural is already suppletive (lille/små, see adjectives/irregular) is suppletive in comparison too, and the comparative root mindre is unrelated to both lille and små.
Vi flyttede til en mindre lejlighed, da børnene var flyttet hjemmefra.
We moved to a smaller flat once the children had moved out.
Umlaut comparatives — a vowel change
In the umlaut group the stem vowel shifts: a → æ (gammel → ældre), u → y (ung → yngre), o → ø (stor → større), a → æ again (lang → længere). This is the same Germanic vowel-fronting that gives English old → elder (the archaic elder/eldest preserves exactly the gammel → ældre vowel logic). Modern English has mostly levelled it out; Danish has kept it in these high-frequency words.
Min storesøster er fem år ældre end mig.
My big sister is five years older than me.
København er Danmarks største by.
Copenhagen is Denmark's biggest city.
Den længste dag i året er omkring den 21. juni.
The longest day of the year is around the 21st of June.
Mange vs meget: the count/mass split
This is the one place Danish is harder than English. English uses more and most for both countable and uncountable nouns:
- many friends → more friends → most friends
- much money → more money → most money
Danish keeps two separate ladders and you must pick the right one based on whether the noun is countable.
| Noun type | Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Countable (plural) | mange (many) | flere (more) | flest (most) |
| Uncountable (mass) | meget (much) | mere (more) | mest (most) |
Use flere/flest when you could count the noun (friends, books, mistakes); use mere/mest when you can't (money, time, water, patience).
Jeg har flere venner i Aarhus end i København.
I have more friends in Aarhus than in Copenhagen.
Vi har brug for mere tid til at blive færdige.
We need more time to finish.
Hvem af jer har læst flest bøger i år?
Which of you has read the most books this year?
Det er den ret, der kræver mest arbejde.
That's the dish that takes the most work.
A neat parallel runs through the "decreasing" side too, and it keeps the same count/mass split. The mass opposite of meget is lidt → mindre → mindst (little → less → least); the count opposite of mange is få → færre → færrest (few → fewer → fewest). So Danish, like careful English, keeps færre (fewer, countable) distinct from mindre (less, mass). See adjectives/comparison-regular for how the regular ladder behaves and choosing/lidt-vs-faa for the lidt/få split in the positive.
The definite superlative takes -e
When a superlative stands before a definite noun (after den/det/de or a possessive), it adds -e, just like a regular superlative does — and the irregular stem is kept.
| Indefinite superlative | Definite superlative |
|---|---|
| bedst | den/det/de bedste |
| størst | den/det/de største |
| ældst | den/det/de ældste |
| flest | de fleste |
Han er den ældste i klassen.
He's the oldest in the class.
De fleste danskere cykler til arbejde.
Most Danes cycle to work.
That last one is idiomatic and worth banking: de fleste = "most (people/things)". It's the definite plural of flest, and it's how Danish says "most of" when speaking generally.
Comparison built on participles uses mere/mest
Not every adjective forms a synthetic comparative. Past participles and longer/loaned adjectives use mere and mest periphrastically (mere imponeret, mest interesseret) — but that is a regular, predictable pattern covered in adjectives/comparison-periphrastic, not an irregularity. The irregulars on this page are precisely the short, native, high-frequency adjectives that resist the periphrastic route.
Common Mistakes
❌ Min bror er gammelere end mig.
Incorrect — gammel is umlaut: ældre, not gammelere
✅ Min bror er ældre end mig.
My brother is older than me.
❌ Det var den godeste dag i ferien.
Incorrect — god is suppletive: bedst/bedste, not godeste
✅ Det var den bedste dag i ferien.
It was the best day of the holiday.
❌ Det smager mere godt på den her måde.
Incorrect — never combine mere with a synthetic-comparative adjective; use bedre
✅ Det smager bedre på den her måde.
It tastes better this way.
This is a direct English transfer: learners hear "more good" patterns and reach for mere god. Danish, like standard English ("gooder" / "more good" are both impossible), allows only the suppletive bedre.
❌ Jeg har mere venner i år.
Incorrect — venner is countable, so use flere, not mere
✅ Jeg har flere venner i år.
I have more friends this year.
❌ Vi har brug for flere tid.
Incorrect — tid is uncountable, so use mere, not flere
✅ Vi har brug for mere tid.
We need more time.
Because English collapses both into more, the flere/mere choice has no English cue to lean on. Ask: can I count the noun? If yes → flere/flest; if no → mere/mest.
Key Takeaways
- Memorise the suppletives: god/bedre/bedst, dårlig·ond/værre/værst, lille/mindre/mindst, mange/flere/flest, meget/mere/mest, få/færre/færrest.
- Memorise the umlaut group: gammel/ældre/ældst, ung/yngre/yngst, stor/større/størst, lang/længere/længst (vowel fronts a→æ, u→y, o→ø).
- nær/nærmere/nærmest keeps the -mere/-mest ending.
- Count vs mass: flere/flest for countables, mere/mest for uncountables — the split English has lost.
- The definite superlative adds -e to the irregular stem: den bedste, de største, de fleste.
- Never regularise (*gammelere, *godeste) and never stack mere on a synthetic comparative (*mere god).
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Comparison: -ere and -estA2 — Regular Danish gradation: comparative -ere and superlative -est/-st, the consonant-doubling cases, the definite -e on the superlative, and the dividing line between synthetic endings and periphrastic mere/mest.
- Comparisons of Equality: Lige så...somA2 — Saying two things are equal in Danish with lige så...som ('as...as'), the negative ikke så...som ('not as...as'), and samme...som ('the same...as') — and why the lige is obligatory in the affirmative.
- Mere and Mest: Periphrastic ComparisonC1 — When Danish forms the comparative and superlative with the separate words mere and mest instead of the endings -ere/-est.
- Irregular and Invariable AdjectivesB1 — Adjectives that break the regular agreement pattern in Danish — invariable types, irregular spellings, and the lille/små suppletion.