Comparing: More, less and just-as-many

The last post looked at descriptive comparisons: comparing the quality of objects. This post looks at quantitative comparisons: comparing the quantity (the amount or abundance) of objects.

English examples of quantitative comparisons include:

'I have less friends on facebook than my sister does'

'There are more vegetables in the soup tonight than there was last time I cooked it'

Notice that these are sentences in which the comparative agent (more, less) describes a noun. The french words used for comparing quantity are similar to those used for quality, but are all followed by the preposition de. 

Plus de- 'more of' +

Moins de- 'less of' -

Autant de- 'Just-as-much-of' (just-as-many) =

*NOTE: the preposition de does NOT change to match the noun that follows after it. Usually de would change to des, de l', de la or du, but when talking about quantities, drop  the article (le, la, l') and leave de alone or drop the 'e' if the noun begins with a vowel*

Here's an outline and example of how these words are used to build comparative sentences. 

pronoun or noun + verb + comparative agent (including de) + noun + que + comparison

 Ma tant  a  moins de  patience  que  ma mère 

So, if we take a simple sentence such as 'Ma tant a de la patience' we can turn it into a comparison by adding two new elements: a comparison agent eg. 'moins de... que' and the item we are comparing to,  'ma mère'. We also have to drop the prepositions and articles (de la) in front of the noun (patience).

Here's an example of a similar sentence using plus to indicate more of something:

Il y a plus de candidats au concours cette année que l'année dernière. 

Or we can use autant to indicate that there is just-as-much of something:

J'ai mangé autant de gateau que lui.

Practice creating some of these sentences and comparing them with qualitative comparisons. With practice, you will soon be well equipped to speak out if amounts are not dealt out fairly at dinner time!