Explanation
Use an irregular superlative adjective to say that one person or thing is number one in a group. Common forms are "best," "worst," "least," and "furthest" or "farthest." In English, we usually put "the" before the superlative.
For example, "She is the best player on the team." Here, "She" is the person we talk about, "is" links the subject to a description, "the best" means number one, and "player on the team" tells us the group. Japanese often says "チームで一番うまい選手" with "一番" before the adjective, so the meaning is similar. The English part to remember is the special form and the article "the."
不規則な最上級形容詞は、人や物がグループの中でいちばんだと言うときに使います。よく使う形は "best"、"worst"、"least"、"furthest" や "farthest" です。英語では、最上級の前にふつう "the" をつけます。
例えば "She is the best player on the team." では、"She" が話の中心の人、"is" が主語と説明をつなぐ語、"the best" が「いちばん」を表す部分、"player on the team" が比べるグループです。日本語も「チームで一番うまい選手」と言うので意味は近いですが、英語では特別な形と "the" を忘れないことが大切です。
Examples
- This is the best ramen shop near here. ここではこの店がいちばんおいしいラーメン店です。
- She is the worst driver in my family. 彼女は家族の中でいちばん運転が下手です。
- That was the most fun game we played. あれは私たちがしたゲームの中でいちばん楽しいゲームでした。
- This is the least expensive bag in the store. これは店の中でいちばん安いバッグです。
- Who is the best singer in your class? あなたのクラスでいちばん歌がうまいのはだれですか。
- I do not want the worst seat on the bus. バスのいちばん悪い席はほしくありません。
Common Mistakes
Japanese learners often forget "the" before a superlative, or use the base adjective instead of the irregular form.
Wrong: "She is best player in the team."
Right: "She is the best player in the team."
Wrong: "This soup is goodest."
Right: "This soup is the best."
日本人学習者は、最上級の前の "the" を落としたり、不規則な形ではなく普通の形をそのまま使ったりしがちです。誤り: "She is best player in the team." 正しくは "She is the best player in the team." 誤り: "This soup is goodest." 正しくは "This soup is the best."