Assignment MA 3rd semester, 2021

Basic Arabic
Submitted by: Mohamed Musthafa N
Submitted to: Prof Mohammad Faheem
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
Write about noun of comparison (Ism tafzeel) in detail

(The comparative adjective)

‫ اسم التفضيل‬The Ism Tafdheel is used:
• To compare two things
• To show the highest level of the something
The primary structure of Ism Tafdheel is ‫أفعل‬
Ism Tafdeel is comparative degree, when it is used to compare two things
by saying one has a more of a particular attribute then the other.
‫اسم التفضيل‬
Both: superlative
Comparative
You can differentiate between the Comparative and the Superlative forms:
If ‫أفعل‬is followed by ‫من‬->It is comparative. If not, It is superlative.

Comparative adjectives
Comparative adjectives generally follows the ‫أفعللللللل‬pattern regardless of
whether the nouns they are describing are masculine or feminine, singular,
dual or plural.
• To turn an adjective into the comparative form, take the three
root letters and add the prefix ‫ أ‬Then add sukoon to the first
root letter.
‫= أصغر من‬ ‫صغير‬
(Smaller than) (small)
• If the root letters include a doubled consonant (the second and
third root letters are identical), then these are combined in the
comparative form and a “shadda” )‫ ( شد‬is added
‫» أجد من‬- ‫جديد‬
(newer then) (new)
‫» أقل من‬- ‫قليل‬
(Fewer than) (Few)

Examples of comparative sentences

‫بالل أطول من حامد‬
(Bilal is taller than Hamid)
‫ليلى أطول من بالل‬
 (Layla is taller than Bilal)
‫األبناء أطول من البنات‬
(The sons are taller than the daughters)
‫البنات أطول من األبناء‬
(The daughters are taller than the sons)

Superlative adjectives
The Superlative form takes the same form as the Comparative form.
However it is used as a noun rather than as a adjective, and is followed by
an Indefinite, Singular, genitive noun, a definite, plural, genitive noun or
an attached pronoun.
• EX:
‫ليلى هي أطول بنت في الفصل‬
(Layla is the tallest girl in the class)
In this example, ‫أطلللول‬the superlative, is followed by ‫بنللللت‬which
is an indefinite, singular, noun in the genitive case.
• Another example: ‫ليلى هي أطول البنات في الفصل‬
(Layla is the tallest of the girls in the class)

In this example, ‫ أطلللول‬the superlative, is followed by a definite,

plural, noun in the genitive case
• Another example: ‫هي أطولهن‬
(She is the tallest of them)
In this example ‫أطلللللول‬the superlative, is followed by the
possessive pronoun

Changes in the following adjectives into the comparative

and the superlative forms

Superlative Adjectives

‫أجمل‬ >-‫ جميلة‬/‫ جميل‬Beautiful

‫أقصر‬ >-‫ قصيرة‬/‫ قصير‬Short
‫أطول‬ >-‫ طويلة‬/‫ طويل‬Tall
‫أخف‬ >-‫ خفيفة‬/‫ خفيف‬Light

Comparative
‫أجمل من‬
‫أقصر من‬
‫أطول من‬
‫أخف من‬
The comparative/superlative nouns follow the pattern of ‫أفعل‬
)‫ أكبر‬، ‫ أصغر‬، ‫ أعلم‬، ‫ أشد‬، ‫) أحب‬
‫أفعل‬you can put an ‫أل‬on it:-
‫األكبر‬->It becomes superlative
‫(أكبر‬Greater)
‫(األكبر‬The Greatest)
‫أسمع‬is a better listener, or more of a listener
‫ األسمع‬is the most listening, the best listener

The different type of mudaf, mudafilayhi

The other we can do that with Mudaf (‫) مضاف‬
For example: ‫ أكبر الناس‬، ‫ أكبر رجال‬، ‫ أكبرنا‬، ‫أكبرهم‬
If the Mudaf was comparative, it will actually become the superlative. It’s
more of a “doer” or more of a “done to”.
There are two ways to make the comparative to superlative:
1. Add an ‫أل‬
2. Mudaf
The Mudaf ilayhi is Plural:-
1. ‫( أكبر المساجد‬The biggest of all the masjids(
2. ‫(أصغر المساجد‬The smallest of the masjids)
3. ‫(أحسن المساجد‬The best of the masjids)
4. ‫( أجمل المساجد‬The most beautiful of the masjids)
There are 3 particular ways of making mudaf:
‫ أحسن الكتاب‬-
Here ‫الكتاب‬is proper noun, marifa and singular
‫أحسن الكتب‬
Here ‫الكتب‬is plural marifa (al), you put an “OF”