In Dari, as in English, adjectives have degrees of comparison. There are three forms of adjectives to show these degrees: the positive, the comparative, and the superlative.
The positive:
"red" سرخ
"big" کلان
"beautiful" مقبول
The comparative is formed by the addition of the suffix تر:
کلانتر
"bigger,"
خوردتر
"smaller."
Comparative adjectives follow the nouns they qualifies; the Ezafa is added to the noun:
"smaller room" otaaqh-e khoordtar اطاق خوردتر
"higher voice" sadaa-ye belandtar صدای بلندتر
The English "than" is translated by از az:
"smaller than you" خوردتر از شما
"bigger than that one" کلانتر از آن
In informal speech, it is common to add the word کرده karda کده kada, which has no special meaning, and is used only in constructions of this kind:
این خانه از آن خانه کرده بلند است
"This building is higher than that one,"
دختر تو از دختر من کده مقبول است
"Your girlfriend is more beautiful than mine."
Sometimes, especially in informal speech, the comparative suffix تر as well as comparative word کردهcan be omitted, yet the phrase retains its comparative meaning:
شهر کابل از شهر مزار شریف کلان است
"The city of Kabul is larger than Mazar-Sharif."
The superlative is formed by the addition of the suffix ترین:
"the nearest station" نزدیکترین ایستگاه
"the best book" بهترین کتاب
"the biggest building" کلانترین تعمیر
The superlative precedes the noun it qualifies and does not take the Ezafa:
"the best girl" بهترین دختر
"the biggest mountain" کلانترین کوه
A more common superlative construction in the informal speech of Dari is the comparative with از همه "than all":
"bigger than all" کلانتر از همه
The English word "very" is expressed through the words بسیار and خیلی:
"very tall" خیلی بلند
"very pretty" بسیار مقبول
The popular Dari word خوب "good" has its special forms for the comparative and superlative:
خوب "good," بهتر "better," بهترین "best."
Often, in informal speech, the model is used that consists of superlative adjective linked to plural noun by means of Ezafa:
"The biggest of towns" bozorgtarin-e shahrhaa بزرگترین شهرها
which corresponds precisely with normal model:
"The biggest town" bozorgtarin shahr بزرگترین شهر
See Also: