French Grammar Explained /
The superlative I
Do you know which is the tallest building in the world?
Hmmm... C'est difficile. Is it La Tour Eiffel in Paris?
Nope, it's in Dubai...
Oh, you're right. Isn't it the Burj Khalifa? I have seen it on TV.
Exactement. At almost 900 meters, it's the tallest building in the world. This structure is called the superlative (From Latin: 'superare' (to beat, to exceed).
Burj Khalifa est le bâtiment le plus grand du monde.
La souris est l'animal le moins dangereux.
So again we are using plus and moins!
With the only difference that we have to add the article le,la or les. Just like in English with the.
Salto Ángel est la cascade la plus haute du monde.
I see another difference here. In English we say:
Salto Ángel is the world's highest waterfall.
And in French le, la, les + adjective is at the back.
C'est tout à fait ça ! That's correct, although in the following case you only need le, la, les + adjective:
La maison rouge est plus grande que la maison blanche,
The red house is bigger than the white house,
mais la maison verte est la plus grande.
but the green house is the biggest.
I think I get it. Time to practice!