The Comparison of Adjectives
The Degree of Equality
The degree of equality is obtained by the use of kadar - Lit: "its amount" - as
- Londra İstanbul kadar güzel. - London is as beautiful as Istanbul.
- Mehmet Ali kadar zengin. - Mehmet is as rich as Ali.
- Kar kadar beyaz. - As white as snow.
The Negative Equality is similarly formed:
The negative comparison is marked by the use of - değil - is not - placed after the comparison.
- Londra İstanbul kadar güzel değil. - London is not as beautiful as Istanbul.
- Ayşe Selim kadar boylu değil. - Ayşe is not as tall as Selim.
The First Degree of Comparison
This comparison is made by using - daha - more - and suffixing the object being compared with -dan or -den - "from" - thus giving the sense - "than" - in the comparison.
- Mehmet Ali'den daha zengin. - Mehmet is richer than Ali.
- İstanbul Londra'dan daha güzel. - Istanbul is more beautiful than London.
- Demir sudan daha ağır. - Iron is heavier than water.
The Negative of the First Degree
The Negative First Degree Comparison uses az - less
- Londra İstanbul'dan az meşgul. - London is less busy than İstanbul.
- Bulmacalar Türkçe derslerden az ilginç. - Crosswords are less interesting than Turkish lessons.
The Superlative Degree
The Positive Superlative
The Third Degree of Comparison is obtained by using en - the most
- Mehmet en zengin adam. - Mehmet is the richest man.
- Dünyanın en güzel şehri, İstanbul. - Istanbul is the most beautiful city in the world.
The Negative Superlative
The Negative uses - en az - the least - Lit: the most less
- Dünyanın en az zengin memleketleri Afrika'da. - The least richest countries of the world are in Africa.
 However, the fact is that although possible, usage of - en az - for negative superlatives is not common. The preferred way is to use the superlative form of opposite adjective. So, the preferred way of the example is:
Dünyanİn en fakir memleketleri Afrika'da.
The world's poorest countries are in Africa.The more common usage of - en az - is - at least...
For example:
- Ahmet en az Mehmet kadar zekidir. - Ahmet is at least as intelligent as Mehmet
- Sen de en az benim kadar yeteneklisin. - You are at least as talented as me.
Many thanks to Ahmet A. Akin for suggestions to this section - JG Nov. 2006
Some Further Examples:
-
kadar iyi - as good as
- bu, o kadar iyi - this, is as good as that.
- bu onun kadar iyi - this is as good as that.
-
-dan daha iyi - better than
- bu, ondan daha iyi - this, is better than that.
-
en iyisi - the best
- bu, en iyisi(dir) Lit: iyisi - the best - this, is the best of all
Some Further Shades of Degree
-
çok - too, very, many
- çok para istiyor - he wants a lot of money
- çok mutluyum - I'm very happy
- çok odalı bir otel - a hotel containing many rooms
-
en çok - the most
- en çok para - the most money
- Ali'nin en çok parası var - Ali has got the most money
- tepede en çok ev var - most of the houses are on the hill
-
daha - more
- iki çay daha, lütfen - two more teas, please
- daha beş bira, lütfen - five beers more, please
-
fazla - too much, excessive
- fazla yemek geldi - too much food has arrived
- fazla para istediler - they wanted too much money
-
daha fazla - much more
- daha fazla yemek geldi - much more food has arrived
- daha fazla para istediler - they wanted much more money
The Negative Forms
-
az, biraz - a little
- az sonra çarşıya gidiyorum - I'm going to the shops a little later on
- biraz tuz istiyorum - I want a little salt
-
daha az - more less(er) - lesser
- yemeğe daha az tuz koyunuz - put less salt on the food
- buralarda, daha az polis var - there are less policemen around here
-
pek az - a bit less(er) - very little
- pek az sigara kullanıyorum - I smoke (cigarettes) just a little
- pek az şeker istiyorum - I only want a little sugar
-
çok az - a lot little(er) - extremely little
- çok az benzin kalıyor - just a small amount of petrol is left
- çok az para istedi - he only wanted a very small amount of money
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