Look at these superlative sentences:
Jean est le garçon le plus mignon de l'école.
John is the cutest boy in the school
Jean est le plus mignon garçon de l'école.
John is the cutest boy in the school.
Le Texas est l'état le plus riche des Etats-Unis.
Texas is the richest state in America
Le Texas est le plus riche état des Etats-Unis.
Texas is the richest state in America.
While the simplest superlative forms are quite similar to the English equivalent, but in more complex examples, the word order and prepositions may be different to what you expect:
E.g. Marie est la fille la plus intelligente de la classe (Marie is the smartest girl in the class)
Two things to pay attention to in complex examples like this are:
1. la fille usually appears before la plus whereas in English it's the reverse order. Also see that 'la' appears twice.
2. de la/du/des/ de l' ('of the') always follows the superlative, even when in English we might say 'in'.
Note: you can also say:
Marie est la plus intelligente fille de la classe (Marie is the smartest girl in the class)
See also the related Le, la, les plus and le, la, les moins = the most and the least (superlatives of adjectives)
Here are other Superlative structures:
Le plus and le moins = the most and the least (superlative of adverbs)
Meilleur, mieux, pire / plus mauvais, plus mal = better, best, worse and worst (irregular comparatives and superlatives)
And Comparative structures:
Plus... plus..., moins... moins... = the more...the more..., the less...the less... (comparisons with phrases)
Better and better, worse and worse = de mieux en mieux, de pire en pire (comparisons)
De plus en plus and de moins en moins = more and more and less and less (comparisons with adjectives, adverbs, verbs)
De plus en plus de and de moins en moins de = more and more and less and less (comparisons of nouns)
Making comparisons with adjectives: plus... que, aussi... que, moins... que
Making comparisons with adverbs: plus... que, aussi... que, moins... que
Making comparisons with verbs: plus que, autant que, moins que
Making comparisons with nouns: plus de... que, moins de... que, autant de... que
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Jean est le garçon le plus mignon de l'école.
John is the cutest boy in the school
Jean est le plus mignon garçon de l'école.
John is the cutest boy in the school.
Le Texas est l'état le plus riche des Etats-Unis.
Texas is the richest state in America
Le Texas est le plus riche état des Etats-Unis.
Texas is the richest state in America.
Q&A
Kenneth
Kwiziq community member
1 February 2017
2 replies
BANGS adjectives?
This lesson is kind of confusing me. At school I learned that the superlative must come after the noun unless the adjective would come before the noun, and in that case the placement would be a choice. The French About page on superlatives also states this rule. So wouldn't "Marie est la plus intelligente fille de la classe" be incorrect?
Aaron
Kwiziq community member
3/04/17
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
31/12/18
Hi Kenneth,
Both examples are given in the lesson :
Marie est la plus intelligente fille de la classe
and
Marie est la fille la plus intelligente de la classe
for
Marie is the smartest girl in the class
Walter
Kwiziq community member
9 January 2019
1 reply
Nothing to do with French, but ...
By GDP La Californie as of 2018 is 50% richer than Le Texas. (Probably why so many French people live in L.A.!)
By median income Le Texas doesn't even make the Top 10. The top 3 are 1. Le New Hampshire 2. Le Minnesota 3. Le Hawaii.
Just thought you would like to know ... :- )
Walter B.
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
17 January 2019
17/01/19
Thank you Walter, that’s very interesting ....