Learn English Grammar: Superlative Adjectives

Doo-doo-doo-doo.

Today I'm going to teach you about something that's super: Superlatives.

Are you a bit confused about superlatives?

Don't worry, I'm here to teach you.

Superlatives.

Now, understand I'm teaching you with adjectives, not adverbs, because that's a whole other lesson.

So, superlatives as adjectives - they're the best.

We don't say: "They're the goodest" for a reason.

What we have to understand about superlatives are: There can be only one superlative.

If you're looking at another grammar called comparative, there have to be two things to compare.

For example, red and blue; purple and yellow.

But with superlatives there's only one thing.

And what we're telling you is that this one is number one.

This one is the best.

There's no other competition for this adjective.

So, the way that we make superlatives, you're going to have two choices.

You can either put: "the" plus your adjective plus "-est", or you can put: "the" plus "most"

plus your adjective.

So, how do you know which adjective will get "est" and which one will get "the most"?

I'll tell you.

We get to play a game.

We get to do something very fun called counting syllables.

First of all, we have to understand what a syllable is.

A syllable is a vowel sound, or how long the word is.

So, when we count syllables we have to be very careful, and we're only going to count

the vowel sounds of the words; not the vowels because this gets confusing.

Once we have counted the vowel sounds, we use "est" or "the most".

So let's do some simple examples and I'll tell you our game.

The first one: How many syllables or how many verb sounds...?

Or vowel sounds do we have in the word "beautiful"?

If we simply count the vowels, we've got one, two, three, four...

Oo, we've got five vowels, but in English, "beautiful" is not five syllables, it's only

three because if you have two or three vowels together, they're only going to make one vowel

sound.

So, in English, the word "beautiful" is only three syllables.

"Beau-ti-ful".

Okay?

If we look at this word: "gentle", we don't say: "gentl-e", but because it's "le" together,

this is going to make another syllable sound, so we say: "gentle".

This one is two syllables, this one is three.

What about this one?

First of all, count the vowels.

How many vowels are there?

One, two.

Because the vowels are separated with consonants, the vowels are not together, we can actually

count these as two: "na-rrow".

Two syllables.

We have this word: "busy".

Bzz, busy bee.

"Busy", again, one syllable...

Sorry, one vowel sound, one vowel sound is two.

"Hungry", one and one, this is two.

This one's easy, there's only one vowel, there's only one vowel sound, so it's going to be

one syllable.

"Happy", two vowels, two syllables.

You understand?

Try and do these ones.

Now, be careful, in English if we have an "e" at the end of the word, we don't say it.

So we don't say: "blu-e", we just say: "blue".

So in this, how many syllables are there?

How many vowel sounds?

Two?

One.

So we just say: "blue", the "e" is silent.

Okay?

My favourite colour is two syllables: "pur-ple".

Again, I told you if it ends in "le" we're going to actually put another syllable here.

This is an exception to our vowel-counting rule.

So we say: "purple".

"Good", how many syllables?

"Good" has two vowels together, but it only makes one sound.

"Bad" has one.

What about this one?

"Lar..."

We don't say in English: "larg-e", we say: "large".

So, again, because the "e" is silent this only has one syllable.

And a lot of people get confused, but there's only one.

And this one, easy: "big".

So, if you look at our words, the very first thing that we're going to do is we're going

to count the syllables, we're going to count the vowel sounds.

Three, two, one.

Now, this is how we have to figure out: When do we use "est" and when do we use "the most"?

This part is easy.

If your word is small...

So if your word has one syllable, it's always going to be "est".

So, we say: "The bluest".

"What?

That's very strange.

Ronnie, how can something be bluest?"

Well, colour is an adjective, so you can say: "Wow, that's the bluest sky I've ever seen

in my life.

It's beautiful."

We can use colours with this because colours are adjectives.

So, it might sound weird for you at first, but it's completely normal, just like me.

If your word is small and it has one syllable, you're going to use "est".

If your word has more than one syllable, then you're going to use "the most".

So, one, one, one, one, one - we'd put "est"; two, three, two, two, two, two, one - we would

put "the most".

So, "beautiful" would become: "the most beautiful", because it has three.

Okay?

With everything in English, we have some exceptions, and exceptions make things a little bit more

difficult to understand.

As a basic rule, if you have one syllable, we add "est"; if we have more than one syllable,

we're going to put "the most"; but then we get these crazy words that end in a "y".

So: "hungry", "busy", and "happy", these all have two syllables but it doesn't matter,

because if you have your adjectives that ends in a "y", we think: "Okay, well, it's more

than one, we use 'the most'", oh no, not in English grammar.

If it...

If your adjective ends in a "y", we always change it to "iest".

We never use "most" with "y".

We can only change the "y" to "i" and add "est".

So: "busy", even though it's two syllables, we don't say: "the most busy", we actually

have to say: "the busiest", and we always need to put "the".

Okay?

"Hungry", because it ends in a "y", we're going to say: "the hungriest".

I'm the hungriest teacher on the planet.

"Happy", again, because it ends in a "y", we can't say: "more happy".

We're going to say: "iest", "happiest".

Are there any ones that end in a "y" here?

No.

So, when we do this, the first thing that I would do, even before I count the syllables,

is I would look for any of my adjectives that end in a "y".

As soon as they end in a "y", it's always "iest".

Those ones are easy.

Now, as you know, everything in English is crazy and people like to talk about things,

and sometimes rules are a little bit foggy which means sometimes they don't make sense.

So, there's another exception to the one-syllable or more-than-one-syllable rule, and it is

adjectives that end in: "er", "le", "or", or "ow".

For example: "gentle" ends in "le", "narrow" ends in "ow".

Because these two end with these endings, we're going to make it "est".

Now, if you said: "the most gentle", nothing happens because people debate this.

People say: "Do we say: 'the most gentle', or do we say: 'the gentlest'?"

A lot of people, it's a grey area, which means that grammar people fight over it.

Don't fight; choose which one you like the most.

But this is a rule that sometimes-not always-we follow.

So: "gentle" will become: "the gentlest".

Again, if you said: "more gentle"...

You might hear people say: "more gentle", and hey, that's fine; they've chosen rule

number two.

So we say: "the gentlest".

"Narrow", because it ends in an "ow", we would say: "the narrowest".

These are the exceptions to our two-vowel sound rule.

"Sad", what do you guys think?

"Sad" has one syllable, so we're going to add "est", so I would say: "That is the saddest

dog I've ever seen."

And this is another thing that's confusing: Sometimes we make the consonant double, sometimes

we don't.

We're not doing spelling, so let's worry about that in a whole new lesson.

"Happy", because it ends in a "y", we put: "the happiest".

Okay?

"Purple", what do you guys think about "purple"?

Because "purple" ends in "le", we're going to say: "the purplest".

Okay, if you look down here, we have two more exceptions.

The first one is "good" will change to: "the best".

We don't say: "goodest".

That even sounds funny.

And look it, look it, look it: I didn't write: "They're the goodest", I wrote: "They're the

best".

So, "good" and "bad" are exceptions.

These guys are the rebels.

We're like: "We're not even going to do this or this; we're going to have our own category

and 'far' is coming with us, because we're special".

"Good" will always say: "the best".

Do you guys know a singer called Tina Turner?

Really old.

"Simply the best..."

She's using superlatives - she's the best.

"Bad", we don't say - one syllable: "the baddest".

No.

We have to say: "the worst".

So I can say: "Wow, that was the worst song Ronnie has ever sang.

She really needs to take singing lessons."

This word: "large", "large", as I told you, the "e" is silent, it has one syllable, so

you're going to use what?

Would you use A or B?

One syllable, would you use: "the largest" or do you think we say: "the most large"?

The answer is "largest" because there's one syllable, we would say: "Wow, that is the

largest pizza I've ever eaten."

And "big", again, one syllable, we would say: "the biggest".

So, the other exception is "far".

Okay?

And this is one...

"Far" is just like: "Do you know what, 'good' and 'bad'?

I'm not even playing your game.

I'm going to do something completely crazy and I'm going to give you two choices."

You can say: "the farthest" or you can say: "the furthest".

Both of these are the same, but the only difference is we just put a "th".

So it's not that crazy, but it's just the spelling is different.

So, "far", you can say: "the farthest".

It's whatever you feel more comfortable with.

Okay?

So if you want to use "furthest", go ahead; if you want to say "farthest", awesome.

The only difference is the spelling of the word, which is a big difference.

So, the next time someone asks you or you have a test about superlatives, what you're

going to do first of all is you're going to pay special attention to the exceptions of

our rules in English.

The "y" always changes to an "iest".

Doesn't matter how many syllables.

Rule number two: If you want to remember it like that, that's easy, but it's not all the time.

And definitely: "good", "bad", and "far", these ones will never change; these are 100%,

you cannot change them to anything else.

"The badderest" doesn't work.

So, the first thing that you're going to do with your list of adjectives is you're going

to look for your exceptions.

The second thing you're going to do, where the fun begins, is you're going to count the syllables.

You're going to count the vowel sounds.

Be careful with silent e's.

After that, we decide: If it's a one-syllable word, the word is small, you're going to put

"the" with the adjective and "est"; if the word is more than one syllable, you're going

to put: "the most" plus your original adjective.

So, be careful because sometimes I hear or I see this: "Oh my god, that person was the

most beautifullest person I have ever seen."

Well, guess what, ladies and gentlemen?

You can't have both.

You can only have one.

You can't say: "the most beautifullest".

It's difficult to say.

So, be careful: You can never put these two together; you can only use A or B. You can

never say: "the most beautifullest".

"The most farthest", never.

"The most biggest", it's wrong.

You will hear people say this; maybe children will say or people will say it to be funny,

but this - be careful, it's something that I see a lot and it's a big mistake.

When you're speaking, enjoy your superlatives, you're doing the best job ever.

And I am gone.