Comparing
When we compare, we usually say that something or someone is more or less (+ adjective, like intelligent, beautiful, etc.) compared to something or someone else. It’s the same in Italian.
Let’s have a quick look at some examples for you to get an idea:
In confronto all’Italia, la Germania è più grande.
Compared to Italy, Germany is bigger.
Mia sorella è più alta, in confronto a Luigi.
My sister is taller, compared to Luigi.
In confronto a
In Italian, if we want to say “to compare” we can say paragonare.
There is also another way to say this: confrontare, which sounds like the English verb “to confront”, but it doesn’t mean that.
In fact, it’s a false friend: one of those words that look very much like a word in English but has a different meaning.
If we want to say “compared to”, we use the following structure: in confronto a + one of the things/groups/people we are comparing.
Remember that since “a” is a preposition, sometimes it agrees in gender and number with the word that follows it. So you might hear in confronto alle ragazze or in confronto agli studenti, etc.
Here are some examples:
In confronto a Saturno, Mercurio è più piccolo.
Compared to Saturn, Mercury is smaller.
In confronto ad altri bambini, Luca è indipendente.
Compared to other kids, Luca is independent.
I ragazzi sono leggermente più forti, in confront alle ragazze.
Boys are slightly stronger compared to girls,
In confronto a + indirect object pronoun
We can also use this structure with indirect object pronouns. In case you don’t remember, here they are me, te, lui/lei, noi, voi, loro. Have a look at some examples:
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.
Sei cambiata tantissimo, in confronto a prima.
You’ve changed a lot compared to before.
You probably already noticed that this structure can go both at the beginning and at the end of the sentence. So the order doesn’t affect the meaning of the sentence.
