Comparisons do not merely rank nouns and adjectives. They can contrast two actions, measure a real event against an expectation, or set two complete propositions alongside each other. Esperanto uses ol for unequal comparison and kiel for equality, and both can introduce anything from an infinitive to a finite clause. Advanced accuracy depends on recognizing what has been omitted and what, exactly, lies on the scale.
Comparing two actions with infinitives
Parallel infinitives are the most compact way to compare actions viewed as general possibilities or choices.
Estas pli facile kritiki ol proponi realigeblan solvon.
It is easier to criticize than to propose a workable solution.
Mi preferas iri trajne ol flugi tiel mallongan distancon.
I prefer to go by train rather than fly such a short distance.
Por ŝi estas same grave aŭskulti kiel paroli.
For her, listening is as important as speaking.
Each pair has matching grammatical form: kritiki/proponi, iri/flugi, aŭskulti/paroli. Parallelism makes the comparison easy to parse and shows that the actions themselves occupy corresponding roles.
After preferi, ol + infinitive is an established way to introduce the less-preferred action. Anstataŭ can instead mean choosing one action in place of another, but it does not by itself express a scale of preference.
Mi preferas telefoni ol atendi alian semajnon.
I prefer to call rather than wait another week.
Mi telefonis anstataŭ atendi alian semajnon.
I called instead of waiting another week.
The first ranks preferences; the second reports a replacement that actually occurred.
Comparing how much, how often, or how well actions occur
A comparison particle may modify the verb or an adverbial scale associated with it.
Post la translokiĝo ni kuiras pli ol antaŭe.
Since moving, we cook more than before.
Mina respondas pli rapide ol ŝia kolego.
Mina responds more quickly than her colleague does.
La dua teamo kunlaboris tiel efike kiel la unua.
The second team collaborated as efficiently as the first.
Bare pli in the first example measures an overall amount of cooking. Pli rapide measures response speed; tiel efike measures efficiency. A writer should not leave the scale implicit when multiple readings matter. Replace broad pli with pli ofte, pli longe, pli multe, or another precise adverb.
Ŝi ne ekzercas pli longe ol mi, sed ŝi ekzercas pli regule.
She does not exercise longer than I do, but she exercises more regularly.
The sentence rejects a duration difference and asserts a regularity difference. English more alone could conceal that contrast.
Ol and kiel can introduce finite clauses
When the second side contains a finite verb, ol or kiel functions as the clause introducer. No additional ke is needed.
La riparo kostis pli, ol la administranto antaŭvidis.
The repair cost more than the manager foresaw.
La publiko reagis pli entuziasme, ol la organizantoj atendis.
The audience responded more enthusiastically than the organizers expected.
La nova sistemo funkcias tiel, kiel la programistoj promesis.
The new system works the way the programmers promised.
—Ĉu la lanĉo sukcesis? —Jes, ĝi okazis pli glate, ol ni atendis.
‘Did the launch succeed?’ ‘Yes, it went more smoothly than we expected.’
The comparison clause often contains an unspoken value: how much the manager foresaw, how enthusiastically the organizers expected the public to react, or in what way the programmers promised the system would work. Ol and kiel link the actual value to that standard.
These are finite subordinate clauses with their own subjects and verb forms. They are not object ke clauses, even when a verb such as atendi could take a content clause elsewhere.
For the wider inventory of finite kiel, ol, and imagined kvazaŭ clauses, see comparison clauses. This page stays focused on the structural decisions involved when complete actions and propositions occupy the two sides of a comparison.
Mi atendis, ke la raporto alvenos hodiaŭ.
I expected that the report would arrive today.
La raporto alvenis pli frue, ol mi atendis.
The report arrived earlier than I expected.
In the first, the ke clause states the content of an expectation. In the second, ol supplies a comparison standard for pli frue.
Tense and mood are independent
The verb in each clause reflects the time and reality of its own event. Esperanto does not copy English sequence-of-tense backshift.
La laboro daŭros pli longe, ol ni hieraŭ prognozis.
The work will last longer than we predicted yesterday.
Ŝi diris, ke la ĝisdatigo funkcios pli bone, ol la nuna versio funkcias.
She said that the update would work better than the current version does.
Future daŭros/funkcios, past prognozis, and present funkcias locate three actual viewpoints. English uses would in the translation because the prediction is reported after a past verb; Esperanto retains future -os.
Conditional -us appears only when the compared scenario itself is hypothetical.
Kun pli granda buĝeto ni atingus pli multe, ol ni povas atingi nun.
With a larger budget we would achieve more than we can achieve now.
The main scenario is imagined, while the present limit is real.
Ellipsis: recover the missing predicate
Short standards are usually economical versions of clauses. Reconstructing the predicate explains case and meaning.
Klara amas la hundon pli ol mi.
Klara loves the dog more than I do.
The hidden clause is ol mi amas la hundon. Compare:
Klara amas la hundon pli ol min.
Klara loves the dog more than she loves me.
Now the hidden clause is ol Klara amas min. The contrast between mi and min is structural, not stylistic.
Some ambiguity survives because the scale itself may be unclear:
Tomaso ŝatas legi pli ol lia frato.
Tomas likes reading more than his brother does.
Does the brother like reading less, or does Tomas read a larger amount? The short sentence encourages the first reading but does not fully describe the comparison. A full clause makes the intended predicate explicit:
Tomaso ŝatas legi pli, ol lia frato ŝatas legi.
Tomas likes reading more than his brother likes reading.
Tomaso legas pli multe, ol lia frato legas.
Tomas reads more than his brother reads.
At C1 level, brevity is not automatically elegance. If an omitted predicate allows different scales or participant roles, repeat it.
Preserve prepositions and other role markers
A preposition in the second side shows which relation is being compared.
Mi interkonsiliĝas pli ofte kun la juristo ol kun la librotenisto.
I consult more often with the lawyer than with the accountant.
La raporto traktas la sociajn sekvojn pli detale ol la ekonomiajn.
The report treats the social consequences in more detail than the economic ones.
In the first sentence, kun is repeated because two consultation partners are contrasted. In the second, la ekonomiajn is the object of understood traktas, so it has accusative agreement.
When attachment could be misunderstood, a full clause is safer:
Mi diskutis la proponon pli longe kun Ada, ol Bruno diskutis ĝin kun ŝi.
I discussed the proposal longer with Ada than Bruno discussed it with her.
This explicitly compares two whole discussion events rather than merely two partners.
Comparing propositions rather than degrees
Sometimes the speaker contrasts which description is more accurate.
La decido estis pli prokrasto ol definitiva rifuzo.
The decision was more a postponement than a definitive refusal.
Lia respondo estis ne tiel kolera kiel senpacienca.
His answer was not so much angry as impatient.
These “metalinguistic” comparisons classify one situation between competing descriptions. Pli X ol Y means that X characterizes it better; ne tiel X kiel Y corrects the first label in favor of the second. Such patterns are especially useful in analytical and (academic) prose.
The compared elements must remain semantically parallel. Comparing an adjective with an unrelated full clause forces the reader to invent the missing scale.
Full equality clauses and more specific KI-words
General comparative kiel works for manner and equal degree. When a finite clause expresses a specific quantity or kind, a matching KI-correlative can be more precise.
Ni uzis tiom da materialo, kiom la inĝeniero kalkulis.
We used as much material as the engineer calculated.
Ŝi elektis tian solvon, kian la kliento petis.
She chose the kind of solution the client requested.
These are members of the broader correlative system: tiom/kiom for amount and tia/kia for kind. They do not replace kiel in ordinary tiel rapide kiel comparisons.
Negation, questions, and scope
Ĉu la nova metodo ŝparas pli da tempo, ol necesas por instali ĝin?
Does the new method save more time than is needed to install it?
La dua provo ne sukcesis tiel bone, kiel ni esperis.
The second attempt did not succeed as well as we hoped.
In the negative sentence, ne denies that the actual success reached the hoped-for degree. It does not negate the hope. Position ne immediately before the measured predicate when that scope matters.
Punctuation and information packaging
A short comparison normally has no comma: pli rapide ol mi. A finite clause often has a natural comma boundary: pli rapide, ol mi atendis. PMEG examples show variation, so punctuation should reveal structure rather than obey a borrowed English ban or mandate.
The standard normally follows the measured expression. Fronting it creates deliberate contrast and is more characteristic of (formal or literary) balance: Kiel laboris la unua teamo, tiel laboris ankaŭ la dua.
Common Mistakes
1. Adding ke after a comparison particle
❌ La projekto kostis pli, ol ke ni antaŭvidis.
Incorrect — ol itself introduces the comparison clause.
✅ La projekto kostis pli, ol ni antaŭvidis.
The project cost more than we foresaw.
2. Using nonparallel action forms
❌ Estas pli facile promesi ol la plenumado de promeso.
Incorrectly unbalanced — an infinitive is compared with a noun phrase.
✅ Estas pli facile promesi ol plenumi promeson.
It is easier to promise than to fulfill a promise.
3. Copying English object case after than
❌ Lidia laboris pli longe ol min.
Incorrect for ‘than I did’ — the understood pronoun is the subject.
✅ Lidia laboris pli longe ol mi.
Lidia worked longer than I did.
4. Backshifting a factual future
❌ La estro diris, ke la dua fazo daŭrus pli longe, ol ni antaŭvidis.
Incorrect for a factual prediction — daŭrus makes it hypothetical.
✅ La estro diris, ke la dua fazo daŭros pli longe, ol ni antaŭvidis.
The manager said that the second phase would last longer than we foresaw.
5. Leaving a genuinely ambiguous comparison compressed
❌ Mi admiras ŝin pli ol la direktoro.
Unclear — this can compare admirers or compare the people admired.
✅ Mi admiras ŝin pli, ol la direktoro admiras ŝin.
I admire her more than the director admires her.
If the other reading is meant, say Mi admiras ŝin pli, ol mi admiras la direktoron.
Key Takeaways
- Use parallel infinitives for two general actions and finite ol/kiel clauses for fully stated situations.
- Ol and kiel themselves introduce the comparison clause; do not add ke.
- Choose tense and mood independently in each clause.
- Expand ellipsis when case, participant roles, or the measured scale could be misunderstood.
- Preserve prepositions and agreement that belong to the understood predicate.
Now practice Esperanto
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Start learning Esperanto →Related Topics
- The Comparison Particle OlB1 — Use the invariant particle ol to introduce standards of unequal comparison, with the correct case, preposition, and clause structure.
- Equality with Tiel… Kiel…B1 — Express equal degree and manner with tiel… kiel…, distinguish equality from inequality and quantity, and control ellipsis and scope.
- Quantity ComparisonB2 — Compare amounts and counts with pli da, pli multaj, tiom… kiom…, and numerical thresholds while keeping degree and addition distinct.
- Comparison ClausesB2 — How finite and shortened clauses with kiel, ol, and kvazaŭ compare degrees, actions, situations, and imagined scenes.
- Infinitives as ComplementsA1 — Build verb chains with an -i infinitive, assign its understood subject, and keep tense, negation, objects, and clause boundaries clear.
- Tense in Subordinate ClausesB1 — Choose each subordinate verb from its own time and mood meaning rather than copying English tense patterns or mechanically matching the main verb.