Comparisons in Turkish
Karşılaştırma
Test yourself with a quick quizTurkish adjectives never change form when you compare. Put daha ('more') or en ('most') in front, and the thing you compare with in the ablative -DAn: Ali Ayşe'den daha uzun.
Comparatives: -DAn daha
The thing you compare with takes the ablative -DAn ('than'). Daha is optional when -DAn is there: Ali Ayşe'den uzun is also correct. The ending follows two-way harmony (a or e) and becomes -tAn after f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p. Names take an apostrophe.
| Word | With -DAn |
|---|---|
| Ankara | Ankara'dan |
| İzmir | İzmir'den |
| Mehmet | Mehmet'ten |
| kitap | kitaptan |
| ben, sen, o | benden, senden, ondan |
| biz, siz, onlar | bizden, sizden, onlardan |
| bu, şu | bundan, şundan |
| annesi | annesinden |
After a third person possessive ending, a buffer n comes in: annesinden, evinden. To say 'less', use daha az: Bu telefon ötekinden daha az pahalı.
Superlatives with en
Put en before the adjective. 'The biggest X of Y' is a possessive phrase: Y takes the genitive and X takes the possessive ending. You can also use -lAr arasında ('among').
Comparing Actions
Most Turkish adjectives also work as adverbs, so daha and en compare actions in the same way. Çok daha means 'much more' and biraz daha 'a bit more'.
Test yourself
5 quick questions on this lesson. How many can you get right?
Choose the right answer.
Equality with kadar
Kadar means 'as ... as'. Personal pronouns before it take the genitive, except onlar. Nouns and names stay in their basic form. The negative uses değil or a negative verb.
| Base | With kadar | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ben | benim kadar | as ... as me |
| sen | senin kadar | as ... as you |
| o | onun kadar | as ... as him or her |
| biz | bizim kadar | as ... as us |
| siz | sizin kadar | as ... as you (plural) |
| onlar | onlar kadar | as ... as them |
| babası | babası kadar | as ... as his father |
Similarity with gibi
Gibi means 'like' or 'as': it compares the kind or manner, not the degree. It follows the same pronoun rule as kadar: benim gibi, onlar gibi.
Tricky Cases
- Daha also means 'yet' or 'still' with a verb: Otobüs daha gelmedi means 'The bus hasn't come yet'.
- Kadar after the dative means 'until' or 'as far as': eve kadar, akşama kadar.
- En az means 'at least' and en çok 'at most': en az iki litre.
- Az daha means 'almost', not 'less': az daha düşüyordum.
- With a measured difference, leave out daha: benden iki yaş büyük.
Common Mistakes
- Wrong case for 'than': say benden daha uzun, not 'benim daha uzun' or 'bende'.
- Ignoring voiceless sounds: say kitaptan and Mehmet'ten, not 'kitapdan' or 'Mehmet'den'.
- Genitive on nouns: say Ali kadar and babası kadar, not 'Ali'nin kadar'.
- Genitive on onlar: say onlar kadar, not 'onların kadar'.
- Forgetting the possessive: say şehrin en güzel parkı, not 'en güzel park'.