How to Make Comparisons in Italian
Comparisons in Italian
The comparative in Italian, called comparativo, is used to compare two things or people, indicating whether one has more, less, or the same degree of a certain quality as the other.
There are three main types of comparatives in Italian: comparativo di maggioranza (comparative of majority), comparativo di minoranza (comparative of minority), and comparativo di uguaglianza (comparative of equality).
Also, there are two different ways to create Italian comparatives:
- The first way is using più/meno di: used to compare two different entities or make numerical comparisons, as in:
Marco è più alto di Paolo.
Marco is taller than Paolo.
- The second way is using più/meno che: used to compare two qualities of the same entity, two actions, or quantities related to the same entity, and it’s used before prepositions or infinitive verbs, as in:
Luca è più intelligente che bello.
Luca is more intelligent than handsome.
“To Compare” in Italian
The Italian translation of the English “to compare” is paragonare. We also have another verb, confrontare, but be careful because this is a false friend: it sounds like the English verb “to confront”, but its meaning is different.
Therefore, if you want to say “compared to”, you can use the structure in confronto a + the items/groups/people we are comparing something to.
Sei cambiata tantissimo, in confronto a prima.
You’ve changed a lot compared to before.
Let me explain it in more detail.
“In Confronto a”
There are two main things you must keep in mind when using the Italian expression in confronto a.
The first aspect is that the preposition a must be combined to the article it precedes, which, in turn, must agree in gender and number with the noun. So you can potentially see all the following combinations:
| Preposition | il | lo | la | l’ | i | gli | le |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | al | allo | alla | all’ | ai | agli | alle |
Here are some examples:
In confronto alla mia, cameria tua è enorme.
Compared tomine, your bedroom is huge.
I ragazzi sono in media più alti in confronto alle ragazze.
Boys are in average taller compared to girls.
The second important aspect is that, if you use a pronoun right after the preposition, that must be the extended form of the indirect object pronouns.
This means that you must use the following forms:
| Subject Pronoun | a + indirect object pronoun |
|---|---|
| io | a me |
| tu | a te |
| lui | a lui |
| lei | a lei |
| noi | a noi |
| voi | a voi |
| loro | a loro |
For example:
In confronto a me, lei è più bassa.
Compared to me, she’s shorter.
In confronto a te, lui non vale niente.
Compared to you, he’s not worth anything.
