comparing things in italian: inequality

Part 1: Comparing two items with respect to a single quality

In English comparisons can look like this:

Vince is taller (= “more tall”) than Frank.

Tony is fatter (= “more fat”) than Jen.

Rita is less fortunate than Tina.

Notice in each of these sentences we’re comparing two people (Vince and Frank, Tony and Jen, Rita and Tina) with respect to a single quality (height, weight, luck).

Of course, we can compare other nouns as well, not just people.

Peaches are sweeter (= “more sweet”) than pears.

Dogs are more loyal than cats.

Big cities are less friendly than small towns.

Italian comparisons have a very similar structure. Instead of more or less you use piu’ or meno, and instead of than you use di. The rest stays pretty much the same. So you get things like…

Vito e’ piu’ alto di Franco.

Gino e’ meno intelligente di Carlo.

Rita e’ piu’ simpatica di Maria.

As a diagram it looks like this:

1st item	Verb	More	Quality	Than	2nd item
Vito	e’	piu’	serio	di	Luigi.

Part 2: Comparing two qualities of a single item

Now, the thing to realize is that in both English and Italian we don’t always compare two items. Sometimes we compare two qualities of a single item. Here’s what I mean.

Vince is more honest than funny.

Rocco is more lazy than calm.

Linda has more brains than beauty.

See the difference? In these sentences, only one person is being described, but with respect to two qualities.

In Italian, when you’re doing a comparison like this, you use che to say than, not di.

Mario e’ piu’ intelligente che bello.

Rita e’ meno simpatica che sincera.

Marco ha piu’ soldi che amici.

It seems a minor detail but to an Italian it makes a big difference.

It’s not always obvious when you’re comparing items or qualities. This little trick will help you. When trying to decide whether to use di or che, break your comparative down into two separate sentences. If the two sentences have the same subject, use che. If they have two different subjects, use di. The first two letters of different are di – this will help you remember.

Here’s an example.

Bill Gates is richer than the Donald.

This sentence breaks down into…

The Donald is rich. Bill Gates is richer.

Since these two sentences have different subjects, you use di to form the comparison in Italian.

Bill Gates e’ piu’ ricco di Donald Trump.

Now try this one.

Tony Soprano has more money than friends.

This breaks down into…

Tony has friends. Tony has more money.

Same subject (Tony), so use che.

Tony ha piu’ soldi che amici.

You also use che when comparing verbs.

E’ piu’ facile leggere che scrivere.

Ecco tutto! You're on your way to being a critic in Italian!

Comments

[Ana]

Thank you for this! The trick for choosing between "di" and "che" is extremely helpful!

[jill]

thank you , thank you , thank you...i've been struggling with this one! This is the only simple, plain english answer i have found!

[Mary]

This is so clear and easy to understand! I am going to send this link to my Italian classmates. Thank you so much for writing this!

[Harsha]

Thank you so much for this simple but profound explanation ....