Some say that Arabic is harder to learn than English. However, Arabs might say that English is the hardest.
Nevertheless, today you’re going to learn what is perhaps the easiest grammar lesson in Arabic to learn. In fact, you might say that it’s easier than any lesson you had before.
In case you haven’t guessed it yet, today we’re talking about Arabic comparatives and superlatives.
So, let’s put our best foot forward and see just how easy learning Arabic the right way really is.
Comparatives in Arabic
First, let’s begin by looking at some adjectives you may have already learned:
كَبير
/kabeer/
big
عَظيم
/‘aDHeem/
great
صَغير
/Sagheer/
small
طَويل
/Taweel/
tall
When creating comparatives, the adjective is always followed by مِنْ /min/ as in:
سامي أَطْوَلُ مِنْ توم
/saamee ’aTwalu min toom/
Sami is taller than Tom.
Specific to Arabic, however, is أَفعَلُ مِنْ /’af‘alu min/ which represents the pattern of how the comparative is made.
For example, كَبير/kabeer/ means big. In order to turn it into the comparative we use the model أَفعَلُ/’af‘alu/ meaning we add an أَلِف /’alif / at the beginning and replace ee with a making أَكبَرُ/’akbaru/. Following that with مِنْ /min/ lets us know it’s comparative. Thus the comparative adjective of كَبير /kabeer/ is أَكبَرُ مِنْ /’akbaru min/.
Superlatives in Arabic
Without ْمِن /min/ following the adjective, the adjective will become superlative. For example:
سامي أطْوَلُ مِنْ توم
/saamee ʼaTwalu min toom/
Sami is taller than Tom.
becomes
سامي هُوَ الأَطْوَل.
/saamee huwa ilʼaTwal/
Sami is tallest
Another way to express the superlative s is by adding ال to the base form of the superlative, as in:
(الأفْضَل /alʼafdhal/)
See how easy that was?
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