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'Gut', 'besser', 'am besten' and other comparisons that change completely

Most German adjectives form their comparative and superlative the easy way: you add -er and -st, as in klein, kleiner, am kleinsten. A handful of very common words refuse to play along. They change the whole word, so gut becomes besser and am besten, viel becomes mehr and am meisten, and bald becomes eher and am ehesten.

English speakers have an advantage here, because English does the same thing with good, better, best and much, more, most. The trouble is that the German families don't always line up with the English ones. Soon has a regular comparative, sooner, but bald has eher, and English has nothing like gern, lieber, am liebsten. These words are also among the most frequent in the language, so a wrong form gets noticed at once.

Word list
besserA1 better gut, besser, am besten gutA1 good gut, besser, am besten mehrA1 more viel, mehr, am meisten oftA1 often oft, öfter, am häufigsten vielA1 much viel, mehr, am meisten baldA2 soon bald, eher, am ehesten gutA2 well gut, besser, am besten lieber mögenA2 to prefer gern, lieber, am liebsten
How it works

Think of each word as a family of three forms that you learn together, like a verb's three main forms. The comparative is used with als (than). The superlative after a verb takes the form am ...sten.

  • gut, besser, am besten
  • viel, mehr, am meisten
  • bald, eher, am ehesten
  • gern, lieber, am liebsten

These families work in two ways. With a noun, the word acts as an adjective or a quantity word. With a verb, it acts as an adverb and describes how, how much or when something happens. German uses the same form for both, while English switches between good and well. In German, gut covers both jobs, and so do besser and am besten.

Sie spricht besser Deutsch als ich.
(She speaks German better than I do.)
The words
Good and well

gut means both good and well. Its comparative besser takes normal adjective endings when it stands before a noun, as in ein besseres Hotel.

Der Kaffee hier ist gut, aber zu Hause schmeckt er besser.
(The coffee here is good, but at home it tastes better.)
Mein neues Handy ist viel besser als mein altes.
(My new phone is much better than my old one.)
Wer kocht in deiner Familie am besten?
(Who cooks best in your family?)
Much and many

viel means much or a lot of, and viele means many. The comparative mehr covers both, and it never changes its ending.

Ich habe heute nicht viel Zeit.
(I don't have much time today.)
Wir brauchen mehr Stühle für die Party.
(We need more chairs for the party.)
Wer hat am meisten gegessen?
(Who ate the most?)
Soon

bald becomes eher (sooner, earlier) and am ehesten.

Der Bus kommt bald.
(The bus is coming soon.)
Wer früher anfängt, ist eher fertig.
(Whoever starts earlier finishes sooner.)
Liking something more

The adverb gern (gladly) becomes lieber and am liebsten. The combination lieber mögen means to prefer, literally to like better.

Ich mag Tee lieber als Kaffee.
(I prefer tea to coffee.)
Often

oft is only half irregular. Its comparative is öfter, but for the superlative Germans usually borrow from häufig and say am häufigsten.

Ich fahre öfter mit dem Rad als mit dem Auto.
(I go by bike more often than by car.)
Welches Wort benutzt du am häufigsten?
(Which word do you use most often?)
Watch out
  • Never build a regular form on top of these words. guter is just good with an ending, not better, and mehr gut or am vielsten don't exist.
  • mehr takes no endings: mehr Bücher, mehr Geld. The word mehrere is a different word and means several.
  • eher often means rather or more likely: Ich bleibe eher zu Hause means I'd rather stay at home. am ehesten likewise means most likely.
  • am meisten goes with verbs. Before a noun you say die meisten: die meisten Leute (most people).

A few other adjectives are only partly irregular and are worth noticing: hoch, höher, am höchsten drops the c, and nah, näher, am nächsten adds one.

Summary

Learn these words as fixed families of three: gut, besser, am besten, viel, mehr, am meisten, bald, eher, am ehesten, gern, lieber, am liebsten, and the half irregular oft, öfter, am häufigsten. The same forms work with nouns and with verbs, so German besser covers both better and more well. Never add -er or -st to the basic word.