Comparison sentences are how you weigh two things against each other — bigger, smaller, just as good, the best of all. Romanian builds them on a small set of fixed frames, and the whole skill is choosing the right frame and the right connecting word. Everything hangs on two patterns: mai ... decât ("more ... than") for inequality, and la fel de ... ca ("as ... as") for equality. To these we add the relative superlative cel mai ... din/dintre ("the most ... of"), and the elegant proportional cu cât ... cu atât ("the more ... the more"). The classic learner error lives at the connector: standard Romanian wants decât after a comparative and ca after an equative. This page builds each sentence type and pins down that split. For the word-level mechanics of mai and adjective agreement, see the comparative.
Superiority: mai ... decât (more ... than)
To say one thing has more of a quality than another, wrap mai around the adjective (or adverb) and put decât before the standard of comparison. The adjective still agrees in gender and number with the noun it describes — mai and decât are invariable, but what sits between them is not.
Ana e mai înaltă decât mine.
Ana is taller than me. (mai + adj. + decât; 'înaltă' agrees with Ana)
Apartamentul lor e mai mare decât al nostru.
Their apartment is bigger than ours.
Filmul a fost mai lung decât mă așteptam.
The film was longer than I expected. (decât before a whole clause)
After decât, a pronoun appears in its strong (stressed) form — decât mine, decât tine, decât el, decât noi — which matches the English "than me, than him."
Fratele meu e cu trei ani mai mare decât mine.
My brother is three years older than me.
Nimeni nu gătește mai bine decât bunica.
Nobody cooks better than Grandma. ('mai bine' = the adverb comparative)
Inferiority: mai puțin ... decât (less ... than)
For "less," replace mai with mai puțin ("less," literally "more little"). The connector stays decât, because you are still comparing two unequal things.
Telefonul ăsta e mai puțin scump decât celălalt.
This phone is less expensive than the other one.
Drumul prin pădure e mai puțin obositor decât cel pe șosea.
The route through the forest is less tiring than the one on the highway.
In casual speech Romanians often dodge mai puțin by flipping to the opposite adjective with plain mai: rather than mai puțin scump you'll hear mai ieftin ("cheaper"). Both are correct; mai puțin + adjective sounds a touch more measured or (formal).
Equality: la fel de / tot atât de ... ca (as ... as)
For equality — "as tall as," "as good as" — Romanian uses la fel de + adjective, and crucially the connector switches to ca (never decât). The frame is la fel de + adjective + ca + standard.
E la fel de bun ca tine la șah.
He's as good as you at chess.
Camera mea e la fel de mare ca a ta.
My room is as big as yours.
Drumul de întoarcere a fost la fel de lung ca cel de dus.
The way back was just as long as the way there.
A slightly more emphatic or (formal) synonym for la fel de is tot atât de (literally "all that much"), fully interchangeable but a little more bookish:
Era tot atât de încântat ca un copil de Crăciun.
He was every bit as delighted as a child at Christmas.
After ca, pronouns again take the strong form (ca mine, ca tine, ca el). In speech you'll also hear the reinforced ca și ("just like / as ... as"), especially before a vowel, where it smooths the join: la fel de harnic ca și colegul lui. The și here is a phonetic/emphatic reinforcement, not the conjunction "and."
E încăpățânat ca și tatăl lui.
He's as stubborn as his father. ('ca și' reinforces the comparison)
The relative superlative: cel mai ... din/dintre
To say something is "the most ..." of a group, build the relative superlative with cel/cea/cei/cele mai + adjective, then mark the group with din ("of/in") or dintre ("among," before a plural set). The article-like word cel agrees in gender and number with the noun.
E cel mai bun restaurant din oraș.
It's the best restaurant in town. (masc. sg. 'cel mai bun' + din)
Ea e cea mai talentată dintre toți colegii.
She's the most talented of all the colleagues. (fem. sg. 'cea mai' + dintre)
Sunt cele mai frumoase fotografii pe care le-am văzut.
They're the most beautiful photos I've ever seen. (fem. pl. 'cele mai')
Note that when the superlative directly follows a definite noun, cel still appears: restaurantul cel mai bun alongside cel mai bun restaurant — both standard. The full paradigm and the absolute superlative (foarte, extrem de) are on the superlative page.
The proportional: cu cât ... cu atât (the more ... the more)
Romanian renders the English "the more X, the more Y" with the paired frame cu cât ... cu atât .... Both halves usually carry mai + adjective/adverb, and the construction is the same in both clauses — a satisfying mirror.
Cu cât citești mai mult, cu atât înțelegi mai bine.
The more you read, the better you understand.
Cu cât te apropii de mare, cu atât aerul devine mai sărat.
The closer you get to the sea, the saltier the air becomes.
Cu cât aștepți mai mult, cu atât e mai greu.
The longer you wait, the harder it gets.
The mirror structure is the key: where English has the slightly odd doubled "the … the …," Romanian uses the transparent pair cu cât (literally "by how much") … cu atât (literally "by that much").
The decât vs ca split, summarized
| Relation | Frame | Connector | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Superiority | mai + adj. | decât | mai înalt decât mine |
| Inferiority | mai puțin + adj. | decât | mai puțin scump decât celălalt |
| Equality | la fel de / tot atât de + adj. | ca | la fel de mare ca a ta |
| Relative superlative | cel mai + adj. | din / dintre | cel mai bun din oraș |
| Proportional | cu cât ... mai | cu atât ... mai | cu cât citești mai mult, cu atât… |
A word on the famous gray area: many speakers say mai mare *ca mine with *ca after a comparative, and you will hear it constantly. Standard, careful Romanian still prefers decât after a comparative (mai mare *decât mine), and grammarians flag *mai ... ca as (informal/disputed). For writing and exams, default to decât after mai; recognize mai ... ca as widespread colloquial speech.
Common Mistakes
Using ca after a comparative in standard register:
❌ E mai înalt ca mine. (in careful/written Romanian)
Disputed/colloquial — standard Romanian uses 'decât' after a comparative: 'E mai înalt decât mine.'
✅ E mai înalt decât mine.
He's taller than me.
Using decât in an equality comparison:
❌ E la fel de bun decât tine.
Incorrect — equality takes 'ca', not 'decât': 'E la fel de bun ca tine.'
✅ E la fel de bun ca tine.
He's as good as you.
Dropping the de inside the equative frame:
❌ E la fel mare ca a ta.
Incorrect — the equative frame is 'la fel de' + adjective: 'E la fel de mare ca a ta.'
✅ E la fel de mare ca a ta.
It's as big as yours.
Forgetting that cel in the superlative agrees with the noun:
❌ Ea e cel mai talentată dintre colegi.
Incorrect — 'cel' must agree: feminine singular 'cea': 'Ea e cea mai talentată...'
✅ Ea e cea mai talentată dintre colegi.
She's the most talented of the colleagues.
Breaking the cu cât ... cu atât pair (e.g. calquing English "the more"):
❌ Mai mult citești, mai bine înțelegi.
Incorrect — use the paired frame: 'Cu cât citești mai mult, cu atât înțelegi mai bine.'
✅ Cu cât citești mai mult, cu atât înțelegi mai bine.
The more you read, the better you understand.
Key Takeaways
- Two core frames: mai ... decât ("more than") and la fel de ... ca ("as ... as"). Inferiority uses mai puțin ... decât.
- The connector split is the classic trap: decât after a comparative, ca after an equative. (Colloquial mai ... ca exists but is (informal/disputed); default to decât in writing.)
- Build the relative superlative with cel/cea/cei/cele mai
- adjective + din/dintre — and make cel agree with the noun.
- The proportional "the more ... the more" is the paired frame cu cât ... cu atât, with mai in both halves.
- After decât and ca, pronouns take their strong form (decât mine, ca tine); ca și is a colloquial reinforcement of ca.
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- The Comparative (mai, mai puțin, la fel de)A2 — How Romanian builds all comparatives analytically with mai, and how the than-word splits into decât (for inequality) and ca (for equality).
- The Superlative (cel mai, cel mai puțin)A2 — How Romanian builds the relative superlative with the agreeing article cel/cea/cei/cele + mai, and the absolute superlative with foarte / extrem de.
- Comparison of AdverbsB1 — How Romanian compares adverbs — analytic mai … decât, la fel de … ca, and cel mai — plus the suppletive set bine→mai bine, mult→mai mult, puțin→mai puțin, rău→mai rău.
- Complex Sentences (subordination)B1 — How to hang a subordinate clause off a main one with că, să, dacă, care, când, pentru că, and ca să — building them step by step, and making the two practical decisions: which connector, and which mood (că + indicative for facts, să + conjunctiv for wishes and goals). The big habit to acquire: Romanian uses a finite să-clause where English uses 'to + verb'.
- Compound Sentences (coordination)A2 — How to join two independent clauses into one sentence with și, dar, iar, sau/ori, ci, deci, and însă — and the punctuation rule that surprises English speakers: put a comma before dar/iar/ci/însă, but NOT before a plain și or sau. Plus when to re-mention the shared subject and when to drop it.
- Conditional Sentences: StructureB1 — The dacă-clause patterns that make a conditional sentence work: REAL (Dacă plouă, stau acasă — indicative in both halves), UNREAL present (Dacă aș avea timp, aș veni — conditional in both), UNREAL past (Dacă aș fi știut, aș fi venit), and the colloquial double imperfect (Dacă știam, veneam). Plus clause order, the comma, and literary de as 'if'.