Learners of the Turkish language soon find themselves in situations where they must use comparatives and superlatives, whether they are comparing the weather or market pricing.
This article explores how Turkish expresses superlatives like “Mount Ararat is the highest mountain in Turkey” (Ağrı Dağı, Türkiye’nin en yüksek dağıdır) and comparatives like “Ankara is colder than İzmir” (Ankara, İzmir’den daha soğuktur).
We will learn the construction and application of these fundamental grammatical forms through the use of concise examples, giving you useful knowledge to improve your proficiency in Turkish.
Comparatives in Turkish
Comparatives, as the name suggests, are used when comparing two things with each other. Lets check it with one word, hız. A basic comparative sentence in English would be “She is taller than her brother.” (O, kardeşinden daha uzun.)
Comparatives in Turkish – Examples
| Term | Translation |
|---|---|
| Hız | Speed |
| Hızlı | Fast |
| Daha hızlı | Faster |
| Daha hızlıyım | I’m faster |
| Senden daha hızlıyım | I’m faster than you |
| Ben senden daha hızlıyım | I am faster than you |
| Term | Translation |
|---|---|
| Akıl | Intelligence |
| Akıllı | Intelligent |
| Daha akıllı | More intelligent |
| Benden daha akıllı | He/she is more intelligent than me |
| Sen benden daha akıllısın | You are more intelligent than me |
| Bu koltuk diğer koltuktan daha rahat | This sofa is more comfortable than the other sofa |
Superlatives in Turkish
They help compare things in languages, like finding the “biggest” or “best” in a group. A basic superlative sentence would be “Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.” (Everest dağı dünyanın en yüksek dağı)
Superlatives in Turkish – Examples
| Expression | Translation |
|---|---|
| En iyi | Best |
| En komik | Funniest |
| En sessiz | Quietest |
| Cem Yılmaz Türkiye’de en komik komedyen | Cem Yılmaz is the funniest comedian in Turkey |
| İstanbul’da en uzun bina bu | This is the longest building in Istanbul |
| Bu sınıfın en çalışkan öğrencisi Ahmet | Ahmet is the hardest-working student in this class |
| Bu kitabın en ilginç bölümü sonuncusu | The most interesting part of this book is the last one |
| Şirketin en değerli çalışanı kim? | Who is the most valuable employee of the company? |
| Bu mağazanın en pahalı ürünü nedir? | What is the most expensive product in this store? |
| Okulun en yeni öğretmeni çok genç | The school’s newest teacher is very young |
In order to learn the structure of genitive case (-In) check out the genitive case part.
Comparatives and Superlatives – Quiz
