Lesson 17 Adjectives of Comparison and the use of p??

Modern Greek Grammar Lessons

Lesson 17 Adjectives of Comparison and the use of πιο, πολύ & πάρα

The word ‘πιο’ means ‘more’ or ‘most’.

The descriptions below are very unkind to Paul. Feel sorry for him.

1 Ο Παύλος είναι πιο χοντρός από μένα	Paul is fatter than me
2 Ο Παύλος είναι χοντρότερος από μένα	Paul is fatter than me
3 Ο Παύλος είναι ο πιo χοντρός	Paul is the fattest
4 Ο Παύλος είναι πολύ χοντρός	Paul is very fat
5 Ο Παύλος είναι πάρα πολύ χοντρός	Paul *is very* fat / Paul is too fat / Paul is very fat (indeed)**
6 Ο Παύλος είναι πολύ πολύ χοντρός	Paul is very fat (indeed)
7 Ο Παύλος τρώει πάρα πολύ	Paul eats too much
8 Η Άννα είναι πιo μικρή από μένα	Anna is younger than me
9 Η Άννα είναι μικρότερη από μένα	Anna is younger than me

The word ‘fatter’ is an adjective of comparison and can be expressed in two ways.

The easiest way is to put ‘πιo’ in front of the adjective ‘χοντρός’ (sentence 1)

Alternatively, the adjective ‘χοντρός’ becomes ‘χοντρότερος’ (sentence 2).

Note that ‘Maria is fatter’ translates as:

Η Μαρία είναι χοντρότερη (see also sentence 9)

Similarly with the neuter we get:

Το αγόρι είναι χοντρότερο – The boy is fatter

More examples are shown below:

Note that in all cases above and below, the accent is on the vowel before ‘τερ’.

The following comparatives do not fit into the pattern and must be memorised.