All languagesTurkish › Lesson 44

daha, en, and kadar

daha, en, kadar — more, most, as much as.

Turkish has no morphological comparative or superlative — no '-er' or '-est'. Instead it uses three words. daha + adjective = 'more X': daha güzel = 'more beautiful'. en + adjective = 'most X': en güzel = 'most beautiful / the most beautiful'. To say 'as X as Y', use kadar ('as much as'): senin kadar = 'as much as you', bir tilki kadar kurnaz = 'as cunning as a fox'. The thing being compared takes the ablative -den/-dan ('than'): benden uzun = 'taller than me'.

More: daha + adjective

Just put daha before any adjective: daha iyi ('better'), daha kötü ('worse'), daha hızlı ('faster'), daha yavaş ('slower'). To name what you're comparing to, mark it with the ablative -den/-dan (it means 'from', and Turkish reasons 'taller from me' = 'taller than me'). Ali Mehmet'ten daha uzun. = 'Ali is taller than Mehmet.' The daha can be dropped when the -den is present, especially in speech: Ali Mehmet'ten uzun. still means 'Ali is taller than Mehmet'.

Most: en + adjective

en marks the superlative: en iyi ('best'), en güzel ('most beautiful / the prettiest'), en büyük ('biggest / largest'). The superlative is often followed by a noun in a compound: en iyi arkadaşım ('my best friend'), en sevdiğim film ('my favorite film' — lit. 'most-I-love-it film'), dünyanın en yüksek dağı ('the world's highest mountain'). With the genitive on what you're picking out of, en lives between the genitive phrase and the head: sınıfın en uzun öğrencisi = 'the tallest student in the class'.

As X as: kadar

kadar means 'as much as / to the extent of'. The thing compared sits in the bare nominative or genitive form before kadar. Senin kadar çalışkan biri yok. = 'There's nobody as hard-working as you.' Bir aslan kadar güçlü. = 'Strong as a lion.' Pronouns take the genitive: benim kadar ('as much as I'), senin kadar ('as much as you'), onun kadar ('as much as he/she'). kadar also means 'until' with time, but for comparison the structure is X kadar + adjective.

Less: daha az

There's no special 'less' word — combine daha ('more') + az ('few/little'). Bu kitap daha az ilginç. = 'This book is less interesting.' Or invert with daha + opposite: daha kolay ('easier') instead of 'less hard'. For 'the least', use en az: en az ilginç film = 'the least interesting film'. Don't try to translate 'less' literally — Turkish prefers 'more of the opposite' or daha az.

Equal-and-not patterns

aynı = 'the same'. Bu iki kitap aynı. ('These two books are the same.') gibi = 'like'. Bir melek gibi. ('Like an angel.') Negate with kadar değil: O kadar zor değil. ('It's not that hard / not as hard as that.') A frequent stock phrase is bir o kadar da = 'and equally / just as much': Çalışkan ama bir o kadar da yorgun. = 'Hard-working, but equally tired.'

Examples

Ali Mehmet'ten daha uzun.
Ali is taller than Mehmet.
Ablative -ten + daha. daha is droppable in speech.
Bu kitap çok daha ilginç.
This book is much more interesting.
Intensify with çok daha.
Türkiye'nin en yüksek dağı Ağrı Dağı'dır.
Turkey's highest mountain is Mount Ağrı.
Genitive + en + adjective + compound noun + -dır.
Sen benim kadar çalışkansın.
You're as hard-working as I am.
benim kadar = 'as much as I'.
O kadar zor değil.
It's not that hard.
o kadar … değil — negation of equality.
Bu film daha az ilginç.
This film is less interesting.
daha az = 'less'.

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