Breakdown of Braucht eine ältere Person mehr Unterstützung?
ein
a, an (eine)
brauchen
to need
alt
old
mehr
more
die Person
the person (individual)
die Unterstützung
the support
Questions & Answers about Braucht eine ältere Person mehr Unterstützung?
Why is ältere translated as "elderly" instead of "older"?
This sentence uses the absolute comparative. When a comparative adjective is used without a direct comparison (there is no als / "than"), it actually softens the original adjective's meaning. So, eine ältere Person means an "elderly" or "somewhat old" person. Paradoxically, an alte Person (old person) is considered older than an ältere Person!
What is the grammatical ending on ältere here?
The base adjective is alt, its comparative stem is älter-, and the final -e is the adjective ending. Because Person is a feminine noun in the nominative case following the indefinite article eine, the adjective takes the standard mixed declension feminine ending -e.
Are there other common adjectives that use this absolute comparative softening?
Yes, this is a very common way in German to downplay things or sound polite. For example, ein längeres Gespräch means "a somewhat long conversation" (not necessarily longer than another), and eine kleinere Reparatur means "a minor repair".
Why isn't mehr declined to match the feminine noun Unterstützung (e.g. mehre)?
The comparative word mehr (more) is a special exception: it is never declined when it comes directly before a noun. Regardless of the noun's gender or case, you just use the uninflected form mehr.
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