Is Funner a Word?

If you needed to do a Google search for “Is funner a word?” please keep reading!

It turns out that funner is not a word. In fact, funner was included in a recent blog post entitled “Stop Making up Words!”

Instead of funner, you should say more fun.

Wrong:

fun, funner, funnest

Today was funner than Tuesday!

Right:

fun, more fun, most fun

Today was more fun than Tuesday!

Don’t feel badly if you’ve made the mistake of saying funner. Remember, we all make mistakes. And often, making a mistake is the best way to learn. So I wrote this post to set the record straight on the whole funner vs. more fun debate.

For starters, it’s easy to see why this mistake is fairly common; afterall, we say fast, faster, fastest. Why wouldn’t you say fun, funner, funnest? Right?

The reason is that (as concisely explained by our word nerd friends at Merriam-Webster), certain grammar snobs don’t feel that fun is a “proper adjective,” but rather only a noun (a thing). As a result, the comparative (funner) and superlative (funnest) forms of an adjective should not be constructed.

However, if you are going to let your hair down and speak informally, the correct way to state that one activity is more fun than another is exactly that: more fun. And to say that one activity is more fun than every other activity: the most fun.

Okay, fasten your seatbelts; I’m going to go full grammar geek on you. What I explained above regards comparative adjectives (which compare two things) and superlative adjectives (which compare three or more items).

fun                              I had a fun time today.                                      (adjective)

more fun                   Today, I had more fun than yesterday.             (comparative)

the most fun             Today I had the most fun I’ve ever had!           (superlative)

There are a few general rules governing how to form the comparative and superlative:

• For one-syllable words, add “-er” and “-est” to form the comparative and superlative forms, respectively.

Ex: quick, quicker, quickest

• For two-syllable words that end in “-y,” use “-er” and “-est” as appropriate.
  1. If the word ends in a “y,” change the “y” to “i” before adding the ending.

Ex: happy, happier, happiest

• For two-syllable words that do not end in “-y,” use “more” and “most” (or “the most”).

Ex: stable, more stable, the most stable

• For three-syllable words, use “more” and “the most.”

Ex: beautiful, more beautiful, the most beautiful

• Always choose! Never add the ending (-er, -est) and more or most.

• When in doubt, check the dictionary!

Keep in mind, some words don’t follow either pattern. The bad news is that you’ll just have to memorize that list. Fortunately, the list of irregular adjectives is short, the most common of which include

good, better, best

bad, worse, worst

far, farther (or further), the farthest (or the furthest)

little, less, least

much, more, most

Questions or comments: If you have question about English grammar, please tweet me: @Snowflake_Story or @JillBarletti.