Better Hungarian

Superlatives in Hungarian are quite simple, particularly compared to English.

Adjectives will take on one of three endings: -abb, -ebb, or -bb. Which one it takes depends on A) whether the word ends in a vowel or consonant, and B) whether the word is a front-vowel or back-vowel word.

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Any adjective ending in a vowel, all that will be added is -bb.

Examples

furcsa + -bb = furcsább¹ (strange – stranger)

gyenge + -bb = gyengébb (weak – weaker)

¹Note that the vowels a and e are lengthened to á and é when adding the suffix. See this post if confused.)

There are some exceptions to this rule, however. For example, könnyű becomes könnyebb, and not “könnyűbb”. “Szép” is also irregular, as it becomes ‘szebb‘. Sometimes accents will be lost when the superlative suffix is added, such as “nehéz” becoming “nehezebb“.

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Adjectives ending in a consonant end in either -abb or -ebb.
Back-vowel words will take -abb, and front-vowel words will take -ebb.

Examples

magas + -abb = magasabb (tall – taller)

száraz + -abb = szárazabb (dry – dryer)

meleg + -ebb = melegebb (warm – warmer)

dühös + -ebb = dühösebb (angry – angrier)

Note: Some words will take -obb instead of -abb/-ebb. For example, ‘nagy‘ becomes ‘nagyobb‘ (and not ‘nagyabb’).

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“The Most”

If you want to go one step up, and say something is ‘the best’, ‘the worst’, ‘the most beautiful’, etc, you add the suffixes explained above, and then simply add leg– to the front of the word.

Examples

furcsa < furcsább < legfurcsább (strange – stranger – strangest)

gyenge < gyengébb < leggyengébb (weak – weaker – weakest)

magas < magasabb < legmagasabb (tall – taller – tallest)

meleg < melegebb < legmelegebb (warm – warmer – warmest)

dühös < dühösebb < legdühösebb (angry – angrier – angriest)

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Making Comparisons

If you want to compare a degree of something to something else, there are two ways to do so.

1. add -nál/-nél
   A férfi magasabb a nőnél. (The man is taller than the woman)
   
2. add ‘mint‘
   A férfi magasabb, mint a nő. (The man is taller than the woman)

Both ways to express it are correct.