Comparative and Superlative in Turkish: Daha, En, -dan/-den and Kadar

Turkish comparisons use two small words and one case ending. Daha means “more”, en means “most”, and the thing you compare against takes the ablative case -dan/-den (“from”). There are no comparative suffixes like English -er and no irregular forms like good / better / best. If you already know basic adjectives, you can start comparing straight away.

The comparative: daha + adjective

Put daha directly before the adjective or adverb:

• Bu oda daha büyük. (This room is bigger.)
• Yeni telefonum daha hızlı. (My new phone is faster.)
• Daha iyi misin? (Are you better?)

Saying “than”: the ablative

The thing you compare against goes in the ablative, which means “from” and here works as “than”. The word order is:

A + B-dan/den + (daha) + adjective

• Kahve çaydan daha pahalı. (Coffee is more expensive than tea.)
• Kardeşim benden uzun. (My brother is taller than me.)
• Bugün dünden daha sıcak. (Today is hotter than yesterday.)
• Ankara İstanbul’dan daha küçük. (Ankara is smaller than Istanbul.)
• Trenle gitmek otobüsle gitmekten daha rahat. (Going by train is more comfortable than going by bus.)

When the ablative is present, daha is optional: Kardeşim benden uzun and Kardeşim benden daha uzun mean the same.

Ablative forms to remember

The ablative follows two-way vowel harmony and becomes -tan/-ten after the voiceless consonants ç, f, h, k, p, s, ş, t:

Pronouns: benden (than me), senden (than you), ondan (than him/her/it), bizden, sizden, onlardan, bundan (than this).

Less, much more, a bit more

To compare amounts or actions, use daha çok or daha fazla (more) and daha az (less):

• Daha çok çalışmalısın. (You should work more.)
• Benden daha fazla kazanıyor. (She earns more than me.)
• Biraz daha çay? (A bit more tea?)

Equality: “as … as” with kadar

For “as tall as” or “as expensive as”, use the postposition kadar. Nouns before kadar stay in the nominative; singular pronouns and bu/şu/o take the genitive.

• Ali, Ayşe kadar uzun. (Ali is as tall as Ayşe.)
• Benim kadar yorgun değilsin. (You’re not as tired as me.)
• Bu otel onun kadar pahalı değil. (This hotel isn’t as expensive as that one.)

Note the difference: benden (than me) but benim kadar (as … as me). For “like”, use gibi: Senin gibi konuşuyor (He talks like you).

The superlative: en + adjective

Put en before the adjective:

• Bu, menüdeki en ucuz yemek. (This is the cheapest dish on the menu.)
• En iyi arkadaşım Elif. (My best friend is Elif.)
• Ağustos genelde en sıcak ay. (August is usually the hottest month.)

“The biggest … in / of …”

To name the group, put it in the genitive and add the possessive -(s)I to the noun, forming a compound:

• Türkiye’nin en kalabalık şehri İstanbul’dur. (Türkiye’s most populous city is Istanbul.)
• sınıfın en çalışkan öğrencisi (the most hard-working student in the class)
• dünyanın en güzel yeri (the most beautiful place in the world)

Or use arasında (among): Öğrenciler arasında en çalışkanı Ayşe. (Among the students, the most hard-working is Ayşe.)

“The best one”: en + adjective + -(s)I

Without a noun, the superlative takes the possessive ending and works as a pronoun:

• En ucuzu hangisi? (Which one is the cheapest?)
• En iyisi eve gitmek. (The best thing is to go home.)

Useful fixed expressions with en

Other meanings of daha

Daha also means “yet” or “still”, and bir daha means “again”:

• Otobüs daha gelmedi. (The bus hasn’t come yet.)
• Daha erken. (It’s still early.)
• Bir daha söyler misiniz? (Could you say that again?)

Comparing actions

Daha and en also work with adverbs, so you can compare how people do things:

• Ahmet benden hızlı koşuyor. (Ahmet runs faster than me.)
• Daha dikkatli sür, lütfen. (Drive more carefully, please.)
• Toplantıda en çok kim konuştu? (Who talked the most in the meeting?)
• En erken sen geldin. (You arrived the earliest.)

Comparing in a real conversation

Shopping for a jacket:

Müşteri: Bu ceket çok güzel ama biraz pahalı. Daha ucuz bir şey var mı? (This jacket is lovely but a bit expensive. Is there anything cheaper?)

Satıcı: Şu ceket daha ucuz, ama kumaşı bunun kadar kaliteli değil. (That jacket is cheaper, but its fabric isn’t as good quality as this one’s.)

Müşteri: En ucuzu hangisi? (Which is the cheapest?)

Satıcı: Şu mavi olan. Ama bence en güzeli siyah olan. (That blue one. But I think the nicest is the black one.)

Müşteri: Maviyi alayım, mavi en sevdiğim renk. (I’ll take the blue one; blue is my favourite colour.)

• daha ucuz bir şey: comparative before bir şey.
• bunun kadar kaliteli değil: equality with kadar; bu takes the genitive bunun.
• en ucuzu, en güzeli: superlatives used as nouns with -(s)I.
• en sevdiğim: “my favourite”.

Common mistakes

• Leaving out the ablative. Ali Ayşe daha uzun is wrong; say Ali Ayşe’den daha uzun.
• Using the ablative with kadar. Benden kadar → benim kadar.
• Looking for irregular forms. “Better” is simply daha iyi; “worst” is en kötü.
• Using the ablative for the group. Türkiye’den en büyük şehir is wrong; the group takes the genitive: Türkiye’nin en büyük şehri.
• Forgetting the possessive in “the X-est of”. Türkiye’nin en büyük şehir → şehri.

Mini-exercise

Translate into Turkish.

1. My car is older than yours. (yours = seninki)
2. This is the best restaurant.
3. Is there anything cheaper?
4. Ayşe is as tall as her mother. (her mother = annesi)
5. Which is the biggest?
6. Istanbul is the biggest city in Türkiye.
7. at least three days

Answers: 1. Arabam seninkinden (daha) eski. · 2. Bu en iyi restoran. · 3. Daha ucuz bir şey var mı? · 4. Ayşe annesi kadar uzun. · 5. En büyüğü hangisi? · 6. Türkiye’nin en büyük şehri İstanbul’dur. · 7. en az üç gün

Practice this

Put comparatives to use in a real negotiation with the Turkish bazaar shopping phrases, and revise the ablative endings on the ablative case page.