Comparatives & Superlatives
तुलनात्मक और सर्वोत्कृष्ट रूप
French builds comparisons by wrapping the adjective in plus/moins/aussi...que rather than changing the adjective's ending — and Hindi does exactly the same kind of wrapping (से ज़्यादा/से कम/जितना), so this 'no inflection, just extra words' strategy is already familiar.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
plus / moins / aussi...que ≈ से ज़्यादा / से कम / जितना — both wrap, neither inflects
Elle est plus grande que moi. (She is taller than me.)
वह मुझसे लंबी है।
French comparatives use plus...que ('more...than'), moins...que ('less...than'), and aussi...que ('as...as') wrapped around the unchanged adjective. Hindi does the identical kind of wrapping: मुझसे (मुझ + से, 'than me') plus the plain adjective लंबी, with लंबी itself never changing shape to mark comparison — no equivalent to English's '-er' ending exists in Hindi either. Unlike an English speaker, who has to suppress the instinct to add '-er' for short adjectives, a Hindi speaker already treats every adjective the wrapping way — you're just swapping से for que and moving the comparison word from after the adjective (मुझसे लंबी) to around it (plus grande que moi).
le/la/les plus...: the superlative ≈ सबसे + adjective
C'est le plus rapide. (It's the fastest.)
यह सबसे तेज़ है।
The French superlative adds the definite article in front of the comparative: le/la/les plus + adjective ('the most') or le/la/les moins + adjective ('the least'). Hindi builds its superlative with सबसे ('than all', a fixed word, not an article) plus the plain adjective — सबसे तेज़, literally 'than-all fast' — so both languages reach for an extra word rather than a special ending, though French's word doubles as its regular definite article while Hindi's सबसे is its own dedicated superlative marker with no article role at all.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
- Hindi
- से ज़्यादा तेज़se zyādā tez
- English
- faster than
- Hindi
- से कम महंगाse kam mahaṅgā
- English
- less expensive than
- Hindi
- जितना लंबाjitnā lambā
- English
- as tall as
- Hindi
- सबसे तेज़sabse tez
- English
- the fastest
- Hindi
- सबसे बड़ीsabse baṛī
- English
- the biggest (feminine)
- Hindi
- सबसे कम महंगेsabse kam mahaṅge
- English
- the least expensive (plural)
- Hindi
- से ज़्यादा दिलचस्पse zyādā dilcasp
- English
- more interesting than
- Hindi
- से कम आसानse kam āsān
- English
- less easy than