In short

Greek has two “top” degrees, and they do different jobs.

The relative superlative (σχετικός υπερθετικός) picks one item out of a set: the best friend, the tallest mountain in Greece. You build it exactly like the comparative of lesson 18 and then add the definite article: πιο καλός “better” → ο πιο καλός “the best”. The article is the only thing you add — that is the whole rule.

The elative (απόλυτος υπερθετικός) compares with nothing at all: it just says very, extremely. Everyday Greek does it with πολύ and πάρα πολύ before the adjective; a set of adjectives also has a one-word form in -ότατος: ωραιότατος “absolutely lovely”, ακριβότατος “terribly expensive”, νοστιμότατος “delicious”. Beware: ωραιότατος does not mean “the loveliest”.

The rule

1. Relative superlative = article + comparative.

The article agrees with the noun in gender, number and case, as always: ο πιο καλός φίλος, η πιο καλή φίλη, το πιο καλό βιβλίο. πιο itself never changes; the adjective still agrees with the noun.

2. Two word orders, one meaning. The adjective phrase can sit between article and noun, or follow the noun with its own repeated article:

• ο πιο καλός φίλος
• ο φίλος ο πιο καλός

Both are correct. The first is the neutral, most frequent order; the second puts the spotlight on the quality and is common in speech and in lists (πάρε το δωμάτιο το πιο ήσυχο).

3. The set: από + accusative, or a genitive. Say what the item is best of:

• από όλους / απ’ όλους (masc.), απ’ όλες (fem.), απ’ όλα (neut.): Είναι ο πιο γρήγορος απ’ όλους.
• a genitive noun phrase: ο πιο έξυπνος μαθητής της τάξης, το πιο ψηλό βουνό της Ελλάδας.
• nothing at all, when the set is obvious: Αυτό είναι το πιο φθηνό.

4. The irregular comparatives of lesson 18 become superlatives by taking the article — nothing else changes. καλύτερος “better” → ο καλύτερος “the best”. This is the point to hold on to: in Greek the difference between comparative and superlative is one little word, the article.

5. Elative with πολύ. πολύ + adjective = “very”; πάρα πολύ + adjective = “extremely, really very”. πάρα never stands alone in front of an adjective — it only intensifies πολύ.

6. Elative in -ότατος. Take an adjective in -ος, drop the ending, add -ότατος, -ότατη, -ότατο, and decline it like any ordinary -ος, -η, -ο adjective (lesson 14). It means “extremely X”, never “the most X”. It is one register step above πολύ: warm, slightly emphatic, very common in compliments about food, places and prices. Adjectives in -ύς make the form in -ύτατος (βαρύς → βαρύτατος).

7. Intensifying prefixes — recognition only. A closed set of prefixes fuses with particular adjectives to give an elative: ολο-, κατα-, θεο-, πεντα-. These are fixed lexical combinations, so learn the ones you meet and do not build new ones yourself.

Forms & patterns

The relative superlative with πιο — full declension of ο πιο καλός

Singular:

Plural:

The vocative drops the article (Greek never uses one in the vocative) and is rare with a superlative; the other three cases are what you will actually use.

Irregular comparatives (lesson 18) turned into superlatives by the article

The elative in -ότατος — how it is formed

Note the stress: it lands on the vowel of the suffix -ότατος (and on the -ύ- of -ύτατος in βαρύτατος), even when the base adjective was stressed elsewhere (όμορφος → ομορφότατος, γρήγορος → γρηγορότατος).

Full declension of the elative ωραιότατος

Singular:

Plural:

Intensifying prefixes — for recognition

Examples

Common mistakes

• Είναι πιο καλός μαθητής της τάξης. -> Είναι ο πιο καλός μαθητής της τάξης. — Without the article you have only said “a better pupil”; the article is what turns it into “the best”.
• ο πιο καλύτερος φίλος -> ο πιο καλός φίλος / ο καλύτερος φίλος — καλύτερος already carries the comparison; never stack πιο on a form in -ότερος. Pick one of the two.
• Το ξενοδοχείο είναι ακριβότατο της πόλης. -> Το ξενοδοχείο είναι το πιο ακριβό της πόλης. — -ότατος means “extremely”, so it cannot pick one item out of a set; use article + πιο for that.
• η πιο ακριβός ταβέρνα -> η πιο ακριβή ταβέρνα — πιο is invariable, but the adjective still agrees with its noun in gender, number and case.
• ο πιο γρήγορος από όλοι -> ο πιο γρήγορος απ’ όλους — από always takes the accusative.
• Το φαγητό είναι πάρα νόστιμο. -> Το φαγητό είναι πάρα πολύ νόστιμο. — πάρα intensifies πολύ; it never stands directly before the adjective.
• ο καλύτερος μου φίλος -> ο καλύτερός μου φίλος — a word stressed on the third syllable from the end takes a second accent on its last syllable when a weak pronoun follows.

Tips

• One-line summary of lesson 18 and this lesson together: πιο καλός = better, ο πιο καλός = the best. The article does all the work, so never let it drop.
• Test whether you need the superlative at all: if you can add “of all / in the class / in Greece”, you need article + πιο. If you only mean “very”, you need πολύ or -ότατος.
• ο φίλος ο πιο καλός is not a mistake or a poetic licence — it is the same phrase with the article repeated after the noun, slightly more emphatic. Both orders are worth being able to hear.
• -ότατος is a compliment, not a ranking. A safe check: if replacing it with πολύ still makes sense, you have used it correctly (νοστιμότατο ≈ πολύ νόστιμο).
• In speech, πολύ and πάρα πολύ carry almost all the elative traffic. Keep a handful of -ότατος forms active (ωραιότατος, νοστιμότατος, ακριβότατος) and simply recognise the rest.
• Treat ολο-, κατα-, θεο-, πεντα- as vocabulary, not as a rule: πεντακάθαρος exists, but you cannot invent *πεντακαλός. Learn each combination as a word.
• The article in ένα ωραιότατο σπίτι / το ωραιότατο σπίτι σου belongs to the noun, not to the adjective — it does not turn the elative into a superlative.