by Max Wheeler
They get up just as early as when they worked in the factory.
Omission of tant (adverb but not adjective) and tan in comparisons is probably explained as an overlap with com as a manner adverbial:
Ningú no llegeix com ell.
Nobody reads like (= as much as) he does.
És alt com un Sant Pau.
He’s a giant of a man. (lit. … as tall as a Saint Paul)
Aquest noi és divertit com ningú.
This boy is as amusing as anything, (lit. as nobody/anybody)
5.2 COMPARISON OF INEQUALITY
Inequality is typically expressed by the formula més … que ‘more … than’ or menys … que ‘less than’. These patterns are the same whether what is compared is an adjective, an adverb, or another category. Més, menys themselves are primarily degree adverbs, though they can also be used as quantifier adjectives in noun phrases, and as quantifier pronouns (see 8.2). Manco ‘less’ is used in informal styles in the Balearics and in Valencia. In the Balearics pus is an alternative to més after a negative.
Avui tens un dinar més suculent que el dels altres dies.
Today you’re having a more tasty lunch than on the other days.
El lladre va actuar més astutament que la policia.
The thief behaved more cleverly than the police.
Fa més fred a dins que a fora.
It is colder inside than outside.
La poesia és menys comercial que la prosa.
Poetry is less commercial than prose.
Aquest camí mena a la catedral menys directament que Paltre.
This road leads less directly to the cathedral than the other.
Menys … que can occasionally be replaced by més poc … que:
Hi ha menys cadires que (no (pas)) gent. = Hi ha més poques cadires que (no (pas)) gent, (see 5.2.2 on expletive no/no pas)
There are fewer chairs than people.
La poesia és més poc comercial que (no (pas)) la prosa.
Poetry is less commercial than prose.
Més and menys can themselves be modified by degree expressions like molt ‘much’, ‘a lot’, força ‘a lot’, un poc ‘a little’, una mica ‘a bit’, poc ‘little’ (not = un poc ‘a little’) or other expressions.
Em va parlar força menys violentament que l’altre dia.
He spoke to me a good deal less violently than the other day.
El teu mecànic sembla (molt/un poc/una mica) més hàbil que (no (pas)) el meu.
Your mechanic seems (a lot/a bit) more skilful than mine.
Aquest cotxe és poc més ràpid que el nostre.
This car is hardly any faster than ours.
Compare:
Aquest cotxe és un poc més ràpid que el nostre.
This car is a little faster than ours.
And notice the following, where Catalan, unlike English, logically uses a comparative of inequality:
si fos dues vegades més gran que no és
if it were twice as big as it is (lit…. twice bigger than …)
Un poc més, una mica més, un poc menys, una mica menys take partitive de before a noun in quantitative comparisons of this kind; molt before més or menys + a noun agrees in number and gender with the noun.
Hi ha un poc més de gent que (no (pas)) ahir.
There are a few more people here than yesterday.
Hi ha moltes més cadires que (no (pas)) persones.
There are a lot more chairs than people.
Tenc moltes menys pel·lícules de vídeo que (no (pas)) llibres.
I have a lot fewer video films than books.
Més poc seems to admit only molt as its own degree modifier:
Aquesta versió m’agrada molt més poc que (no (pas)) la primera.
I like this version a lot less than the first one.
Inequality can, of course, also be expressed by means of the negative no with the comparative of equality (5.1). In many instances this alternative is preferred.
Té menys anys del que sembla. = No té tants anys com sembla.
She is less old than she looks. = She is not as old as she looks.
Era menys complicat del que ens havien explicat. = No era tan complicat com ens havien explicat.
It was less complicated than had been explained to us. = It was not as complicated as had been explained to us.
When the standard of comparison is a numeral de is generally used as the pivot in place of que.
Hi havia més de cent parades a la fíra.
There were more than a hundred stalls at the fair.
But note a contrast of meaning in a negative context between:
No hi havia més que cinquanta parades.
There were only fifty stalls, (més as quantifier pronoun)
and
No hi havia més de cinquanta parades.
There were not more than fifty stalls. (més as quantifying adjective)
5.2.1 SYNTHETIC COMPARATIVES
Major ‘bigger’, menor ‘smaller’, millor ‘better’, pitjor ‘worse’ are irregular synthetic comparative forms for més gran, més petit, més bo and més dolent/ més mal. However, the analytic forms are not only correct, but even preferred:
Dels dos nens, aquest és el major. = Dels dos nens, aquest és el més gran.
Of the two boys, this is the bigger one.
Era una qüestió d’una importància menor que l’altra. = Era una qüestió d’una importància més petita que l’altra.
It was an issue of lesser importance than the other.
Va ser millor el plat cuinat a casa que no al restaurant. = Va ser més bo el plat cuinat a casa que no al restaurant.
The home-made dish was better than the restaurant one.
Aquesta obra de teatre és pitjor que Paltra. = Aquesta obra de teatre és més dolenta que l’altra.
That play is worse than the other.
Millor and pitjor are also adverbs, commonly substituted by the analytic forms (més bé, més malament):
Avui ha tocat la sonata millor/més bé que ahir.
Today she played the sonata better than yesterday.
Ahir va tocar la sonata pitjor/més malament que avui.
Yesterday she played the sonata worse than today.
Major and menor, on the other hand, are only adjectives. (They also mean ‘major’ and ‘minor’ respectively: Fou una omissió major ‘It was a major omission’.) The adverb majorment does exist, but with the independent meaning of ‘generally’: La gent majorment prefereix les platges d’arena ‘People generally prefer sandy beaches’.
The second term of constructions with the lexical comparatives inferior and superior is introduced by a:
La qualitat del treball d’aquest actor és superior a la de la resta de la companyia.
The quality of this actor’s work is superior to the rest of the company’s.
Llurs esforços resultaren inferiors a les exigències de la comesa.
Their efforts proved inferior to the demands of the undertaking.
5.2.2 EXPLETIVE NO/NO PAS IN COMPARATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
Provided that the main clause is positive, the sense of inequality can be emphasized using an expletive no or no pas after que, with no fundamental difference in meaning:
Aquell cotxe és més ràpid que (no/no pas) el nostre.
That car is faster than ours is.
Aquesta vegada va demanar la paraula i va parlar menys vehementment que (no/no pas) abans.
This time she intervened and spoke less vehemently than before.
És millor moure-les empenyent-les que (no/no pas) estirant-les.
It is better to move them by pushing than by pulling.
When the standard of comparison is a finite clause introduced by que, the verb in the subordinate is obligatorily preceded by no standing immediately after que. (There is some difference of opinion about whether pas is possible here directly before a verb; it may be acceptable only when més, menys is a pronominal quantifier, as in the sec
ond example below.)
Són més ràpids que no t’imagines ?… que no pas t’imagines
They are faster than you suppose.
Ofereixen més que no (pas) donen.
They offer more than they give.
D’aquests se’n trobaran més que no tinc jo cabells al cap.
More of these will be found than the number of hairs on my head.
He vist més accidents que no heu tingut vosaltres malsons.
I have seen more accidents than you have had hot dinners (lit. nightmares).
Expletive no (pas) is also obligatory when both what is compared and the standard of the comparison are finite complement clauses (to avoid cacophonous que que ‘than that’, so grammarians say):
Més s’estima que ho llencis que no (pas) que m’ho donis.
She would rather you threw it away than that you gave it to me.
Serà millor que t’ho expliqui jo que no (pas) que t’ho llegeixis a la premsa.
It will be better for me to explain it to you than for you to read about it in the press.
However, when the standard of comparison involves a non-finite verb, expletive no can in principle be confused with ordinary negative no, as in:
Més m’estimo quedar a casa avui que no veure el partit.
I would rather stay at home today than (not) see the match.
Val més equivocat que no intentat.
Better mistaken than (not) attempted.
If the intended sense in the standard of comparison is really positive, one can leave out the expletive no. If the intended sense is negative, one can use no pas no, where the first no is the expletive, and the second the true negative.
M’estimo més empassar-me l’orgull que no pas no tornar a parlar-hi mai més.
*M’estimo més empassar-me l’orgull que no no tornar a parlar-hi mai més.
I had rather swallow my pride than not talk to them ever again.
(cf. M’estimo més empassar-me l’orgull que (no (pas)) tornar a començar de nou.
I had rather swallow my pride than start all over again (i.e, where the second term is not negative).)
Notice that when the main clause is negative, either que alone introduces the standard of comparison, or, with a finite verb, the construction with del que (5.2.3) will be used:
No és més ràpid que el nostre.It is not faster than ours. * … que no (pas) el nostre
No són més ràpids del que t’imagines.They are not faster than you imagine. *… que no t’imagines
When the main clause is negative, a complement clause may also form the standard of comparison:
Aquest exercici no ofereix pas menys dificultats teòriques que l’anterior n’oferia de pràctiques.
This exercise presents no fewer theoretical difficulties than the practical difficulties found in the earlier one.
Que t’ho expliqui jo no serà pitjor que que t’ho llegeixis a la premsa.
For me to explain to you will not be worse than your reading about it in the press.
In the last example each case of que corresponds to one function. The first que is the pivot of the comparison and the second que is the complementizer that heads the complement clause. While the result is grammatically correct, most native speakers would recast the sentence to avoid que que …, for example … que si t’ho llegeixes a la premsa ‘… than if you read it in the press’. Because the first clause is negative que que cannot be replaced by *que no pas que.
5.2.3 DEL QUE ‘THAN’
When the standard of comparison is a phrase containing a finite verb, que no can be replaced by del que (strictly ‘than that which’, ‘than (the amount) which’):
Ofereixen més del que donen. = Ofereixen més que no (pas) donen.
They offer more than they give.
Treballa més del que us penseu. = Treballa més que no us penseu.
She does more work than you think.
És molt més intel·ligent del que sembla. = És molt més intel·ligent que no sembla.
She is more intelligent than she seems.
When the compared element is a (quantified) noun, del que varies in form to display number and gender agreement.
Aparenta més serenitat de la que té per dins (= … més serenitat que no té …).
He displays more calm than he feels inside.
Presenten menys feina feta de la que havien promès (= … menys feina feta que no havien promès).
They offer less completed work than they promised.
Notice that this construction is not entirely logical; to take the last example, it appears to say ‘less completed work than the (work) they promised’, whereas the intended sense is ‘less completed work than the (amount of work) they promised’.
As mentioned above, there is no alternative to the del que construction when the main clause is negative and the standard of comparison contains a finite verb:
No sé cantar més afinadament del que et pensaves.
I can’t sing more in tune than you supposed.
5.3 SUPERLATIVES
5.3.1 RELATIVE SUPERLATIVE
There is, strictly speaking, no superlative degree of comparison in Catalan. That is, there is nothing corresponding to, say, ‘fairest’ in ‘the fairest of the three’ which is different from ‘fairer’ in ‘the fairer of the two’. Catalan says la més bella de les tres just like la més bella de les dues. In both cases the construction involves using the definite article. In attributive position, the article precedes the noun, and the compared adjective may precede or follow (see 4.2.1): la deessa més bella/la més bella deessa ‘the fairest goddess’. In predicative position the article comes before the degree word: Venus fou la més bella ‘Venus was the fairest’. As the second term of the relation, the group within which an individual excels is introduced by de, or the context is expressed by a relative clause.
No vull ser el més ric del cementiri.
I don’t want to be the richest person in the graveyard.
És la persona menys seriosa de totes les que conec.
He is the least serious of all the people I know (lit. the least serious person of all those that I know).
És la història més increïble que mai hagi sentit.
It is the most incredible story I have ever heard.
Això és el millor que podies fer.
That is the best thing you could do.
In the standard language, at least, adverbs cannot be preceded by articles. For ‘Speak the slowest that you can’ both (non-standard) Parla el més lentament que puguis and (non-standard) Parla lo més lentament que puguis are rejected in favour of the construction with tan … com:
Parla tan lentament com puguis. Speak as slowly as you can.
Alternatively, to express something corresponding to a superlative of an adverb we can use a comparative with an extreme standard of comparison.
Enguany ha plogut més abundosament que mai.
This year we have had more rain than ever.
Aquí estava més bé que enlloc.
It was best here of anywhere./It was better here than anywhere (else).
This pattern is not restricted to adverbs. We can also say:
És menys seriós que ningú.
He is less serious than anyone. (= He is the least serious of everyone.)
És menys seriós que cap altre.
He is less serious than anyone else (lit. than any other).
5.3.2 ABSOLUTE SUPERLATIVE
The absolute superlative sense ‘X to an extreme degree’ can be expressed using the suffix -issim (-a, -s, -es) added to an adjective stem (which will show morphological variation as before other suffixes that begin with a vowel):
Les platges del sud són netes. → The southern beaches are clean.
Les platges del sud són netíssimes. The southern beaches are very/extremely clean.
Hi va caure una boira espessissima. A very dense fog came down.
Això és complicadíssim. This is extremely complicated.
The superlative of an adverb derived from an adjective consists of the already superlative feminine adjectival form with the adverb-forming suífix -ment (clara → claríssima → claríssimament):
Va educar els seus infants rectíssimament.
He brought up his children in a most upright manner.
Molt (as an adverb) also admits -íssim:
Aquesta òpera m’agrada moltíssim.
I like that opera very much indeed.
Especially in Balearic dialects -íssim can also be added to some lexical adverbs and adverbial expressions: bé → beníssim ‘very well’, prest → prestíssim ‘very soon’, aviat → aviadíssim ‘very quickly’, a prop → a propíssim ‘very near’, enfora → enforíssim ‘very far’, a poc a poc → a poc a poquissim ‘very slowly’, tard → tardíssim ‘very late’, etc.
5.4 CORRELATIVE COMPARISON: ‘THE MORE … THE MORE …’, ‘THE LESS … THE LESS …’
Correlative comparison is expressed in Catalan with com més/menys … més/menys… or quant més/menys … més/menys …. Quant més/menys is felt to be archaic.
Com menys te’n preocupis, menys te’n sortiràs.
The less you worry about it the less you’ll succeed.
quantmenys a prop més bé
the further away the better
