- How an adjective is converted to a noun?
- How can we make a comparison of equality?
Comparative adjectives not only express superiority (“more beautiful”) but also, they can express equality (“as beautiful as”) and inferiority (“less beautiful”). Languages like French and Spanish, have clear and universal structures for the three degrees of comparison. In Persian, adjectives do not have a universal structure to express inferiority. For example, there is no direct structure to express “A is less intelligent than B”. It is expressed in other ways e.g. “A is not as intelligent as B” or “A has less intelligence than B”.
Nominal Form of an Adjective
In Persian, you can convert an adjective to a noun by adding the suffix ی (-i). This noun is called the nominal form of the adjective. For example, in the following table, خوبی (goodness) is the nominal form of خوب (good).
Adjective | Noun |
---|---|
خوب khub good |
خوبی khubi goodness |
بد bad bad |
بدی badi badness |
When an adjectives ends in a vowel other than “-e”, the epenthetic consonant “-y-” is added between the adjective and the suffix “-i” to resolve vowel hiatus. When an adjective ends in “-e”, the consonant “g” appears between the adjective and the suffix. This consonant belongs to the older form of the word and is not the result of epenthesis.
Adjective | Noun |
---|---|
زیبا zibâ beautiful |
زیبایی zibâyi beauty |
تازه tâze fresh |
تازگی tâzegi freshness |
Equality structure
To make a comparison of equality e.g. “as good as”, the nominal form of the adjective is placed in the following structure:
Preposition به (“be”) | + | Nominal form | + | genitive marker -ye |
---|
Since the nominal form of an adjective always ends in the vowel “-i”, the genitive marker “-e” always appears as “-ye” in the above structure.
Examples:
به خوبی be khubi-ye as good as |
به بدی be badi-ye as bad as |
به زیبایی be zibâyi-ye as beautiful as |
به تازگی be tâzegi-ye as fresh as |
So, for example, به زیبایی (“be zibâyi-ye”) literally means “to the beauty of”.
Equaling A and B
The following structure is used to express a comparison of equality between “A” and “B”.
A | equality structure | B |
Example:
سارا به زیبایی خواهرش است Sârâ be zibâyi-ye khwâhar-ash ast Sarah is as beautiful as her sister Literally, it is like saying: “Sarah’s beauty is equal to the beauty of her sister” |