Are Adjectives Sometimes "Stem-Changing"?

Question

Most people that study German learn about "stem-changing VERBs (z.B. singen, sang, gesungen). I don't come across them often, but there appear to be stem-changing adjectives, as well. Example: Gross= great. But Friedrich der Grösse. Are there "classes" of such adjectives (e.g. for words with a, o, or u)? Or a handful of individual cases? Or am I seeing something that doesn't actually exist?

Answer 1

Hello, you've unfortunately made a mistake. It is Friedrich der Große without an umlaut over the 'o'. Secondly since big/tall is a very common and old word it has some unique changes like, " the biggest " will be with an umlaut - der größte Mann. But for big/tall man it's just der große Mann. Like Brian mentioned when comparing as well there are sometimes umlauts added. For example long - longer .. lang - länger

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

There are indeed adjectives that change their stem depending on if they are positive, comparative, or superlative. There are also extremely irregular adjectives: gut, besser, best (good, better, best).