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Just like in English, where "good" becomes "better" and "best", some common Italian adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms. The adjectives **grande** (big) and **piccolo** (small) are the most frequent examples.

### Maggiore and Minore

Instead of *più grande* (bigger), you will often see **maggiore** (greater, major). Instead of *più piccolo* (smaller), you will see **minore** (lesser, minor). Because they end in **-e**, they use the same form for masculine and feminine nouns, and change to **-i** in the plural.

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When talking about family members, **maggiore** also means "older" and **minore** means "younger":

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### Massimo and Minimo

To express the absolute highest or lowest degree of something, use the absolute superlatives **massimo** (maximum, greatest) and **minimo** (minimum, least, lowest). Unlike *maggiore* and *minore*, these end in **-o** and change their endings to match the noun in both gender and number (**-o**, **-a**, **-i**, **-e**).

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You can mix and match these forms to precisely describe extreme sizes, amounts, or severity:

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Irregular comparatives of size and age (maggiore, minore, massimo, minimo)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
volcano	il vulcano
diameter	il diametro
greater (older, major)	maggiore
This beautiful volcano has the greatest diameter.	Questo bel vulcano ha il diametro maggiore.
archipelago	l'arcipelago
lesser (younger, minor)	minore
All the islands of the archipelago have a volcano, except the minor island.	Tutte le isole dell'arcipelago hanno un vulcano, tranne l'isola minore.
depth	la profondità
maximum (greatest, highest)	massimo
crater	il cratere
What is the maximum depth of this crater?	Qual è la profondità massima di questo cratere?
minimum (least, lowest)	minimo
The crater has a minimum diameter of five kilometers.	Il cratere ha un diametro minimo di cinque chilometri.
eruption	l'eruzione
The major eruption destroyed not only the forest, but also the beautiful lake.	L'eruzione maggiore ha distrutto non solo la foresta, ma anche il bel lago.
My older brother studies not only volcanoes, but also craters.	Mio fratello maggiore studia non solo i vulcani, ma anche i crateri.
The minor island has the crater with the minimum diameter.	L'isola minore ha il cratere con il diametro minimo.
Everyone visited the beautiful volcano, except my younger brother.	Tutti hanno visitato il bel vulcano, eccetto mio fratello minore.
The maximum level of the lake changed after the eruption.	Il livello massimo del lago è cambiato dopo l'eruzione.
Which volcano has the greatest diameter in this archipelago?	Quale vulcano ha il diametro maggiore in questo arcipelago?
The maximum depth of the crater is a minor problem.	La profondità massima del cratere è un problema minore.