{"id":70240,"date":"2019-02-13T13:56:16","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T18:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/italian-superlatives\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T12:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T16:22:55","slug":"italian-superlatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/italian\/italian-superlatives\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Italian Superlatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italians speak in hyperboles and extremes. So to speak with the expressiveness of a native, you must learn how to use superlatives (adjectives or adverbs that describe the highest or lowest quality or degree of something).<\/p>\n

To indicate the best of the worst in Italian, read on to learn about Italian superlatives<\/strong> and see how they are used in example sentences.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Forms of the Italian Superlative<\/h2>\n

The absolute superlative (superlativo assoluto)<\/em><\/h3>\n

The absolute superlative is used to say that something’s “very” something.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take a look at these two phrases:<\/p>\n

La cucina di nonna \u00e9 buona.<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 Grandma\u2019s cooking is good.<\/strong><\/p>\n

La cucina di nonna \u00e9 buonissima!<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 Grandma\u2019s cooking is very good!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since grandma is the best chef in the world, saying that her cooking is good just doesn\u2019t do it justice. You need to say that it’s very good.<\/p>\n

In Italian, you do that by taking the masculine singular form of an adjective (like bello)<\/em>\u00a0and cutting off the last vowel (leaving you with bell-)<\/em>. Then,\u00a0add -issimo, -issimi, -issima <\/em>or -issime,<\/em><\/strong> depending on the gender and number of the noun or pronoun being modified.<\/p>\n

To understand this better, let’s see the extreme form of the word\u00a0bello <\/em>(beautiful\/handsome) in use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Form<\/strong><\/th>Example sentence<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Bellissimo<\/em> (masculine, singular)<\/td>Lui \u00e9 bellissimo<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 He's very handsome.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bellissimi<\/em> (masculine or mixed gender, plural)<\/td>Loro sono bellissimi<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 They're (male or mixed gender) very handsome.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bellissima<\/em> (feminine, singular)<\/td>Lei \u00e9 bellissima<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 She's very beautiful.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bellissime<\/em> (feminine, plural)<\/td>Loro sono bellissime<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 They're (female) very beautiful.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

You can pretty much add -issimo\/a\/i\/e<\/em> to any adjective to form the absolute superlative.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Adjective<\/strong><\/th>English translation<\/strong><\/th>Example sentence<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Brutto<\/em><\/td>Ugly<\/td>Quelle scarpe sono bruttissime<\/strong>!<\/em> \u2014 Those shoes are hideous!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bravo<\/em><\/td>Good, talented, well behaved<\/td>La bimba\u00a0\u00e9 bravissima<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 The little girl is very good.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Caldo<\/em><\/td>Hot<\/td>Stai attento! Il forno\u00a0\u00e9 caldissimo<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 Watch out! The oven is very hot.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Freddo<\/em><\/td>Cold<\/td>\u00c9 freddissimo<\/strong> fuori.<\/em> \u2014 It's freezing (i.e. very cold) outside.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Irregular Italian superlatives<\/h3>\n

There are a few superlative adjectives with irregular spellings. These words are often used to describe extreme situations and are best just memorized in their superlative form:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Superlative<\/strong><\/th>English translation<\/strong><\/th>Example sentence<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Ottimo<\/em><\/td>The best, optimal, excellent<\/td>Questo\u00a0\u00e9 un vino ottimo<\/strong>!<\/em> \u2014 This is an excellent wine!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pessimo<\/em><\/td>Awful, terrible<\/td>Ma questo...\u00a0\u00e9 pessimo<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 But this [wine] is terrible.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Massimo<\/em><\/td>Maximum<\/td>Ho il massimo<\/strong> rispetto per lei.<\/em> \u2014 I have the utmost respect for her.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Minimo<\/em><\/td>Minimum<\/td>Si pu\u00f2 fare questo lavoro con una conoscenza\u00a0minima<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 This job can be done with minimal knowledge.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Infimo<\/em><\/td>The lowest, least<\/td>Quei prodotti sono di infima<\/strong> qualit\u00e0.<\/em> \u2014 Those products are of the lowest quality.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

There are also a handful of words that take -errimo<\/em>\u00a0as an ending in the absolute superlative:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Adjective<\/strong><\/th>English translation<\/strong><\/th>Example sentence<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Celebre<\/em><\/td>Famous<\/td>Lei fu la protagonista di una celeberrima<\/strong>\u00a0pellicola.<\/em> \u2014 She was the protagonist of a very famous movie.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Misero<\/em>*<\/td>Miserable<\/td>A volte \u00e8 difficile vivere in questo miserrimo<\/strong> mondo.<\/em> \u2014 Sometimes it's hard to live in this miserable world.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Aspro<\/em>**<\/td>Sour<\/td>Questo vino \u00e8 pessimo: \u00e9 asperrimo<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 This wine is terrible: it's very sour.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Acre<\/em><\/td>Bitter<\/td>Lui \u00e8 il mio acerrimo<\/strong> nemico.<\/em> \u2014 He is my worst enemy.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Integro<\/em><\/td>Honest<\/td>Lo chiamavano \"honest Abe\" perch\u00e9 era integerrimo<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 They called him \"honest Abe\" because he was so honest.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Salubre<\/em><\/td>Healthy<\/td>Si dice che il frapp\u00e9 di cavolo sia saluberrimo<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 They say that kale smoothie is super healthy.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tetro<\/em>***<\/td>Gloomy<\/td>I film di Tim Burton possono essere teterrimi<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 Tim Burton's movies can be very gloomy.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

*It’s more common to hear the regular superlative form miserissimo.<\/em><\/p>\n

**While this irregular superlative form exists, its regular form (asprissimo<\/em>)\u00a0is more widely used.<\/p>\n

***The superlative teterrimo\u00a0<\/em>is rarely used in Italian, but it’s worth knowing!<\/p>\n

The relative superlative<\/h3>\n

This form is also used to express high praise (or disdain!)<\/strong> but instead of saying someone’s very good or very bad, you use the relative superlative to say someone’s the best or the worst.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s called the relative superlative because the description is always relative to something else, even if it\u2019s not mentioned in the sentence. If you\u2019re talking about \u201cthe best singer,\u201d for instance, you’re implying that there are other singers who aren’t as good.<\/p>\n

There are a few words you can use to describe the best or worst of something:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Relative superlative<\/strong><\/th>English translation<\/strong><\/th>Example sentence<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Migliore<\/em><\/td>The best<\/td>Luciano \u00e9 il cantante migliore<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 Luciano is the best singer.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Peggiore<\/em><\/td>The worst<\/td>La Torta di Frutta \u00e8 il peggiore<\/strong> dolce di Natale.<\/em> \u2014 Fruitcake is the worst Christmas dessert.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Minore<\/em><\/td>The least, lesser<\/td>Il male minore<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2014 The lesser evil.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Maggiore<\/em>*<\/td>Bigger, greater, superior<\/td>La sua conoscenza della lingua italiana \u00e9 maggiore<\/strong> della mia.<\/em> \u2014 His knowledge of Italian is greater than mine.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

*Sometimes you’ll hear maggiore<\/em> shortened to maggior<\/em> in certain phrases like Per la maggior parte\u2026<\/em>\u00a0meaning \u201cfor the most part\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another way of expressing extremes is by using il pi\u00f9<\/em> (the most) and il meno\u00a0<\/em>(the least). You can put\u00a0il pi\u00f9<\/em> or il meno<\/em> in front of any adjective to indicate that the subject is the most or least of something.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

Il peperoncino\u00a0calabrese \u00e8\u00a0il pi\u00f9<\/strong> piccante di tutta l’Italia.<\/em> \u2014 The peperoncino calabrese<\/em> [pepper] is the spiciest in all of Italy.<\/p>\n

E il peperone \u00e8\u00a0il meno<\/strong>\u00a0piccante.<\/em> \u2014 And the bell pepper is the least spicy.<\/p>\n

Italian Superlative in Use<\/h2>\n

Just like in English, you use the superlative when you want to describe a person or thing that’s the best, worst, biggest, smallest, most awesome, etc.<\/p>\n

Superlative words can be used as adverbs<\/a> to describe actions (verbs)<\/strong>. In Italian, a superlative adverb always appears in the masculine singular form<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Usain Bolt corre velocissimo.<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 Usain Bolt runs very fast.<\/p>\n

Remember that even if the subject is female or plural, the word’s ending doesn\u2019t change:<\/p>\n

Anche Dafne Schippers corre velocissimo.<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 Also, Dafne Schippers [female runner from The Netherlands] runs very fast.<\/p>\n

Una lumaca non corre, ma cammina lentissimo.<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 A snail doesn\u2019t run but crawls very slowly.
\n(Note: camminare<\/em> for humans means \u201cto walk,\u201d but for insects it translates to \u201cto crawl” or “to creep.”)<\/p>\n

A useful way to learn how to use Italian superlatives is by seeing them in action. For example, y<\/span>ou could listen out for them in an Italian movie<\/a> or try using an immersive language learning program like FluentU<\/a> to see how superlatives and other terms are used by native speakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

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