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The Comparison of Adjectives. The Degrees of Equality, Comparative and the Superlative Degree are discussed.

Also included are many examples of the Turkish Comparative and Superlative degrees in both the positive and negative form..

 
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The Comparison of Adjectives

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The Degree of Equality

The degree of equality is obtained by the use of kadar - Lit: "its amount" - as

  1. Londra İstanbul kadar güzel. - London is as beautiful as Istanbul.
  2. Mehmet Ali kadar zengin. - Mehmet is as rich as Ali.
  3. 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.

  1. Londra İstanbul kadar güzel değil. - London is not as beautiful as Istanbul.
  2. 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.

  1. Mehmet Ali'den daha zengin. - Mehmet is richer than Ali.
  2. İstanbul Londra'dan daha güzel. - Istanbul is more beautiful than London.
  3. Demir sudan daha ağır. - Iron is heavier than water.

The Negative of the First Degree

The Negative First Degree Comparison uses az - less

  1. Londra İstanbul'dan az meşgul. - London is less busy than İstanbul.
  2. 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

  1. Mehmet en zengin adam. - Mehmet is the richest man.
  2. 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

  1. Dünyanın en az zengin memleketleri Afrika'da. - The least richest countries of the world are in Africa.

Bullet Pencil 1kbHowever, 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:
  1. Ahmet en az Mehmet kadar zekidir. - Ahmet is at least as intelligent as Mehmet
  2. 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:

  1. kadar iyi - as good as
  2. bu, o kadar iyi - this, is as good as that.
  3. bu onun kadar iyi - this is as good as that.
  1. -dan daha iyi - better than
  2. bu, ondan daha iyi - this, is better than that.
  1. en iyisi - the best
  2. bu, en iyisi(dir) Lit: iyisi - the best - this, is the best of all

Some Further Shades of Degree

  1. çok - too, very, many
  2. çok para istiyor - he wants a lot of money
  3. çok mutluyum - I'm very happy
  4. çok odalı bir otel - a hotel containing many rooms
  1. en çok - the most
  2. en çok para - the most money
  3. Ali'nin en çok parası var - Ali has got the most money
  4. tepede en çok ev var - most of the houses are on the hill
  1. daha - more
  2. iki çay daha, lütfen - two more teas, please
  3. daha beş bira, lütfen - five beers more, please
  1. fazla - too much, excessive
  2. fazla yemek geldi - too much food has arrived
  3. fazla para istediler - they wanted too much money
  1. daha fazla - much more
  2. daha fazla yemek geldi - much more food has arrived
  3. daha fazla para istediler - they wanted much more money

The Negative Forms

  1. az, biraz - a little
  2. az sonra çarşıya gidiyorum - I'm going to the shops a little later on
  3. biraz tuz istiyorum - I want a little salt
  1. daha az - more less(er) - lesser
  2. yemeğe daha az tuz koyunuz - put less salt on the food
  3. buralarda, daha az polis var - there are less policemen around here
  1. pek az - a bit less(er) - very little
  2. pek az sigara kullanıyorum - I smoke (cigarettes) just a little
  3. pek az şeker istiyorum - I only want a little sugar
  1. çok az - a lot little(er) - extremely little
  2. çok az benzin kalıyor - just a small amount of petrol is left
  3. çok az para istedi - he only wanted a very small amount of money

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