Commands and comparisons
Two practical bundles for everyday speech. First: the imperative — how to tell someone to do something, with the three different German 'you's (du, ihr, Sie). Second: the comparative (kleiner = smaller) and superlative (am kleinsten = smallest). Both are mechanical once you see the patterns — and a few high-frequency irregulars (gut → besser → am besten) you just memorize.
Imperative — du-form
For the du-imperative (informal singular), take the present-tense du-form and drop the -st ending. du machst → Mach! = Do it! du kommst → Komm! = Come! du gehst → Geh! = Go! du trinkst → Trink! = Drink! du sprichst → Sprich! (e→i stem change is kept). The pronoun du disappears. An optional -e can be added (Komme!), but in spoken German it's almost always dropped. sein is irregular: Sei still! = Be quiet! Separable prefixes go to the end: du stehst auf → Steh auf! = Get up!
Imperative — ihr-form and Sie-form
ihr-imperative (informal plural): just use the present ihr-form, drop ihr. ihr macht → Macht! ihr kommt → Kommt! Same word as the present-tense statement, no pronoun. Sie-imperative (formal, sing. or pl.): use the present Sie-form AND keep the pronoun, but invert the order — verb first. Kommen Sie! = Come (formal)! Sprechen Sie langsam, bitte. = Please speak slowly. The polite bitte softens any imperative: Mach das, bitte. / Bitte, machen Sie das.
Comparative — add -er
To compare two things, add -er to the adjective. klein → kleiner (smaller). schnell → schneller (faster). billig → billiger (cheaper). And here's a German quirk: most one-syllable adjectives with a, o, u in the stem also umlaut. alt → älter (older). groß → größer (bigger). jung → jünger (younger). kurz → kürzer (shorter). lang → länger (longer). The word for 'than' is als: Anna ist älter als Tom. = Anna is older than Tom.
Superlative — am ...sten
For the predicative superlative ('the most/-est'), use the formula am + adjective + -sten. klein → am kleinsten (smallest). schnell → am schnellsten (fastest). billig → am billigsten (cheapest). Same umlaut applies: alt → am ältesten, groß → am größten (irregular: just -t, no extra -s-), jung → am jüngsten. After -t, -d, -s, -z, -ß, an extra -e- appears for ease of pronunciation: am ältesten. Use this form predicatively: Tom ist am jüngsten. = Tom is the youngest. (The attributive form der jüngste with adjective endings comes later.)
The irregulars to memorize
Four very common adjectives/adverbs are irregular — exactly like English good/better/best. gut → besser → am besten (good → better → best). viel → mehr → am meisten (much → more → most). gern → lieber → am liebsten (gladly → rather → most of all — used to say 'I prefer X' as Ich mag lieber X). hoch → höher → am höchsten (high → higher → highest — also note the ch disappears in the comparative: hoch but höher). Anna spricht besser Deutsch als Tom. = Anna speaks better German than Tom. Ich trinke am liebsten Kaffee. = What I most like drinking is coffee.
