Grammar · Nouns & the Noun Phrase · 7 min
Bigger, Better, Best: The Elative
Arabic builds "bigger" into the word itself — and says "than" with מִן, just as the Bible did
Modern Hebrew compares with helper words: גדול, יותר גדול, הכי גדול. Arabic has a ready-made shape instead. Take the three root letters of an adjective, pour them into the pattern aCCaC, and you have the comparative: كَبِير (kabīr, big) becomes أَكْبَر (akbar, bigger). Grammarians call it the elative (أَفْعَل, afʿal), because one form covers both "bigger" and "biggest"; the rest of the sentence tells you which.
One pattern for every adjective
The shape of the original adjective does not matter, only its root: kabīr, ḥasan and ḥulw all land on the same aCCaC. Two small adjustments are worth knowing. Roots with a doubled letter squeeze it together: قَلِيل (qalīl, few) → أَقَلّ (aqall, less). Roots ending in a weak letter end in -ā: حُلْو (ḥulw, sweet) → أَحْلَى (aḥlā). Notice أَكْثَر (akthar): from كَثِير (many), it simply means "more", the word Hebrew says as יותר.
| Adjective | Latin | Elative | Latin | English | Hebrew |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| كَبِير | kabīr | أَكْبَر | akbar | big → bigger | יותר גדול |
| صَغِير | ṣaghīr | أَصْغَر | aṣghar | small → smaller | יותר קטן |
| جَمِيل | jamīl | أَجْمَل | ajmal | beautiful → more beautiful | יותר יפה |
| حَسَن | ḥasan | أَحْسَن | aḥsan | good → better | יותר טוב |
| طَوِيل | ṭawīl | أَطْوَل | aṭwal | long, tall → longer, taller | יותר ארוך |
| قَرِيب | qarīb | أَقْرَب | aqrab | near → nearer | יותר קרוב |
| كَثِير | kathīr | أَكْثَر | akthar | much, many → more | יותר |
| قَلِيل | qalīl | أَقَلّ | aqall | few → fewer, less | פחות |
| حُلْو | ḥulw | أَحْلَى | aḥlā | sweet → sweeter, nicer | יותר מתוק |
| مُهِمّ | muhimm | أَهَمّ | ahamm | important → more important | יותר חשוב |
Comparing with min
- هُوَ أَكْبَر مِنِّيהו אכבר מניhuwa akbar minnī
He is older than me.
הוא גדול ממני هُو گَادُول مِيمِنِيhu gadol mimeni
For people, akbar means "older", just as גדול ממני does.
- هِيَ أَطْوَل مِن أَخِيهَاהי אטול מן אח'יהאhiya aṭwal min akhīhā
She is taller than her brother.
היא גבוהה מאחיה هِي گْڤُوهَا مِئَاخِيهَاhi gvoha me'akhiha
Before min the elative never changes: aṭwal for a girl, a boy, or a whole class.
- الْقُدْس أَكْبَر مِن حَيْفَاאל-קדס אכבר מן חיפאal-quds akbar min ḥayfā
Jerusalem is bigger than Haifa.
ירושלים גדולה מחיפה يِرُوشَالَايِم گْدُولَا مِخَايفَاyerushalayim gdola mekhaifa
A feminine city, yet akbar stays as it is, while Hebrew switches to גדולה.
- الرِّيَاضِيَّات أَصْعَب مِنَ التَّارِيخא-ריאצ'יאת אצעב מן א-תאריח'ar-riyāḍiyyāt aṣʿab mina t-tārīkh
Math is harder than history.
מתמטיקה קשה יותר מהיסטוריה مَاتِمَاتِيكَا كَاشَا يُوتِر مِهِسْتُورْيَاmatematika kasha yoter mehistorya
Before al-, min takes a helping vowel: mina t-tārīkh.
- هٰذَا أَحْسَنהאד'א אחסןhādhā aḥsan
This is better.
זה יותר טוב زِي يُوتِر تُوڤze yoter tov
No min needed when the comparison is clear from context.
The superlative: elative + noun
For "the biggest", put the elative first, in an iḍāfa, with the noun after it. With a singular indefinite noun: أَكْبَر مَدِينَة (akbar madīna), literally "biggest of a city", meaning "the biggest city". With a definite plural: أَكْبَر الْمُدُن (akbar al-mudun), "the biggest of the cities". No article goes on the elative, because the iḍāfa already makes the phrase definite. Hebrew needs extra words here — הכי גדול, or the formal הגדול ביותר.
Superlatives
- أَكْبَر مَدِينَة فِي الْبِلَادאכבר מדינה פי אל-בלאדakbar madīna fī l-bilād
the biggest city in the country
העיר הגדולה ביותר בארץ هَائِير هَاگْدُولَا بِيُوتِر بَاءَارِتْسha'ir hagdola beyoter ba'arets
Elative + indefinite singular noun.
- أَحْسَن طَالِب فِي الصَّفّאחסן טאלב פי א-צףaḥsan ṭālib fī ṣ-ṣaff
the best student in the class
התלמיד הכי טוב בכיתה هَاتَالْمِيد هَاخِي تُوڤ بَاكِيتَاhatalmid hakhi tov bakita
No article on aḥsan, yet the meaning is definite: "the best".
- أَكْبَر الْمُدُنאכבר אל-מדןakbar al-mudun
the biggest of the cities
הגדולה שבערים هَاگْدُولَا شِبَاءَارِيمhagdola sheba'arim
Elative + definite plural: the pattern of גְּדוֹל הַדּוֹר.
- أَجْمَل يَوْم فِي حَيَاتِيאג'מל יום פי חיאתיajmal yawm fī ḥayātī
the most beautiful day of my life
היום הכי יפה בחיים שלי هَايُوم هَاخِي يَافِي بَاخَايِم شِلِيhayom hakhi yafe bakhayim sheli
يَوْم is Hebrew יום, and حَيَاة shares its root with חיים.
The feminine: fuʿlā
Used as an adjective after a definite noun, the elative can agree in gender. The masculine is al-afʿal, the feminine follows the pattern fuʿlā: الْأَكْبَر / الْكُبْرَى (al-akbar / al-kubrā). These forms live mostly in names and formal style, so learn to recognise them; for everyday speech, elative + noun is all you need.
| Masculine | Latin | Feminine | Latin | Where you will meet it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أَكْبَر | akbar | كُبْرَى | kubrā | al-qāhira al-kubrā, Greater Cairo |
| أَصْغَر | aṣghar | صُغْرَى | ṣughrā | āsiyā ṣ-ṣughrā, Asia Minor |
| أَعْلَى | aʿlā | عُلْيَا | ʿulyā | al-maḥkama al-ʿulyā, the Supreme Court |
| أَوْسَط | awsaṭ | وُسْطَى | wusṭā | al-qurūn al-wusṭā, the Middle Ages |
Two of these have Hebrew relatives. عُلْيَا comes from the root ع-ل-و, Hebrew ע-ל-ה, so الْمَحْكَمَة الْعُلْيَا is quite literally בית המשפט העליון. And الشَّرْق الْأَوْسَط (ash-sharq al-awsaṭ), "the middlemost east", is the Arabic for the Middle East, Hebrew המזרח התיכון.
The spoken dialects keep the same elatives: akbar, aṣghar, aḥsan, while akthar becomes aktar in Levantine and Egyptian. Levantine speakers love أَحْلَى (aḥla, sweeter, nicer) for anything they like — hāda aḥla! "this is nicer!" — and say the superlative with wāḥad, "one": akbar wāḥad, "the biggest one".