How to play Comparison Drop
- An English adjective starts falling, for example "old".
- Before it reaches the first row, pick the German word: alt or jung. Tap a gate, or press ← and → on your keyboard. The word moves through your gate and becomes alt.
- The next row opens: pick the comparative (älter or alter), then the superlative (am ältesten or am ältsten).
- Three right gates score the word. One wrong gate, or a word that reaches a row before you choose, breaks it and shows you the right forms.
- A run lasts 90 seconds, and the words fall faster as you go.
What the wrong gates teach you
Most German adjectives follow one pattern: add -er for the comparative and use am ... -sten for the superlative, so schnell (fast) becomes schneller and am schnellsten. The wrong gates in this game come from the places where that pattern changes. Short words often add an umlaut (alt, älter), words ending in -t or -ß need an extra e (am heißesten), and dunkel drops an e (dunkler).
English speakers also tend to write mehr teuer for "more expensive". German never does this, even for long adjectives: the answer is always one word, teurer. If you want the full explanation first, read our guide to the German comparative and superlative, or look up any adjective in the A1 adjectives list.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Comparison Drop work?
An English adjective falls toward three rows of gates. In the first row you pick the German word (old: alt), in the second its comparative (älter), and in the third its superlative (am ältesten). Each row shows its gates only once the row before it is done, so you answer one row at a time. The word only scores if all three gates are right.
Why are the two gates so similar?
The wrong gate is always the mistake learners really make with that word: alter without the umlaut, teuerer instead of teurer, am heißsten without the extra e, guter instead of besser, or mehr gefährlich instead of gefährlicher. Telling them apart at speed is what makes the right form automatic.
What happens when I pick the wrong gate?
The word breaks and the game pauses for a moment to show all three correct forms, with the one you missed underlined. The clock stops while they are on screen, but each mistake makes the next words fall a little faster.
What is in the Tricky forms set?
Only the adjectives that break the simple -er and am -sten pattern: short words that add an umlaut (warm, wärmer), words that need -esten (heiß, am heißesten), words that drop an e (dunkel, dunkler), irregular words (gut, besser, am besten), and short words that look like they need an umlaut but do not (rund, runder).