Arabic: An Essential Grammar

using َأ ْكـ َثـ ُر

akt

̄

aru ‘more’, دَُّأ َشـ

asˇaddu ‘stronger, more’ or لُّ َأ َق




aqallu ‘less’, followed by an accusative abstract noun related to the

participle or adjective, e.g.

َأ ْكـ َثـ ُر ِإ ْخـ َلا ًصـا^

akt

̄

aru

ih

̆

la ̄s

̇

an, more faithful (lit. more as regards

faithfulness)

د َسـ َوا ًداَُّأ َشـ^

asˇaddu sawa ̄dan, blacker (lit. stronger as regards blackness)

ل َج َما ًلاُّ َأ َق^

aqallu g ̆ama ̄lan, less beautiful (lit. less as regards beauty)

25.12 The two nouns/adjectives َخ ْي ٌر h

̆

ayrun ‘good(ness)’ and رَُّش

sˇarrun ‘evil’ are used as comparatives and superlatives with the

meanings ‘better’ and ‘worst’, respectively, e.g.

25.13 Superlative sentences

The superlative is formed by making the comparative pattern

َأ ْفـ َعـ ُل^

af



alu definite, either with the definite article َأْلـ... or with the




id

̇

a ̄fah construction. This form is used for both genders and all

numbers, e.g.

ن ْو ِمَّص َلا ُة َخ ْي ٌر ِم َن لَّ َأل ر ْ َلأ ْو َلا ِدَّ ُه َو ِم ْن َش




as

̇

-s

̇

ala ̄tu h

̆

ayrun mina n-nawmi. huwa min sˇarri l-

awla ̄di.

Prayer is better than sleep. (The Quran) He is one of the worst boys.

Id

̇

a ̄fah construction Definite article

ُه َو َأ ْط َو ُل َوَل ٍد ُه َو ْ َلأ ْط َو ُل

huwa

at

̇

walu waladin. He is the

tallest boy.

huwa l-

at

̇

walu. He is the tallest.

ِه َي َأ ْق َص ُر ِب ْن ٍت ِه َي ْ َلأ ْق َص ُر

hiya

aqs

̇

aru bintin. She is the

shortest girl.

hiya l-

aqs

̇

aru. She is the shortest.

َأ ْط َو ُل ْ َلأ ْو َلا ِدُه ْم ُه ُم ْ َلأ ْط َو ُل

hum

at

̇

walu l-

awla ̄di. They are the

tallest boys.

humu l-

at

̇

walu. They are the tallest.

186

Adjectival

patterns,

relative

adjectives,

comparative