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24 Nouns of superiority

24.1 Introduction

Consider the sentence:

“The book is heavier than the pen.”

In this sentence a relationship of superiority is established between the two nouns: “the book” and “the pencil”. The book is being described as being superior in heaviness.

By the way, we are using the “superiority” in a technical sense. For example, we can say “The donkey is weaker than the horse.” Here the donkey is being described as superior in weakness.

In order to express a superiority relationship between nouns, for example, , Arabic uses qualitative nouns with a distinct form. Here is a table of some common qualitative nouns and their corresponding nouns of superiority.

Root	Qualitative noun	Noun of superiority
«کبر»	کَبِيرٌ kabīrun “big”	أَکْبَرُ ʾakbaru “biger”
«صغر»	صَغِيرٌ ṣag͡hīrun “small”	أَصْغَرُ ʾaṣg͡haru “smaller”
«حسن»	حَسَنٌ ḥasanun “good”	أَحْسَنُ ʾaḥsanu “better”
«سوء»	سَيِّئٌ sayyiʾun “bad”	أَسْوَأُ ʾaswaʾu “worse”
«قدم»	قَدِيمٌ qadīmun “old”	أَقْدَمُ ʾaqdamu “older”
«جد»	جَدِيدٌ jadīdun “new”	أَجَدُّ ʾajaddu “newer”
«سهل»	سَهْلٌ sahlun “easy”	أَسْهَلُ ʾas·halu “easier”
«صعب»	صَعْبٌ ṣaɛbun “difficult”	أَصْعَبُ ʾaṣɛabu “more difficult”
«طول»	طَوِيلٌ ṭawīlun “long”	أَطْوَلُ ʾaṭwalu “longer”
«قصر»	قَصِيرٌ qaṣīrun “short”	أَقْصَرُ ʾaqṣaru “shorter”
«ثقل»	ثَقِيلٌ t͡haqīlun “heavy”	أَثْقَلُ ʾat͡hqalu “heavier”
«خف»	خَفِيفٌ k͡hafīfun “light”	أَخَفُّ ʾak͡haffu “lighter”
«وسع»	وَاسِعٌ wāsiɛun “wide”	أَوْسَعُ ʾaswaɛu “wider”
«ضيق»	ضَيِّقٌ ḍayyiqun “narrow”	أَضْيَقُ ʾaḍyaqu “narrower”
«سرع»	سَرِيعٌ sarīɛun “fast”	أَسْرَعُ ʾasraɛu “faster”
«بطء»	بَطِيءٌ baṭīʾun “slow”	أَبْطَأُ ʾabtaʾu “slower”
«قوي»	قَوِيٌّ qawiyyun “strong”	أَقْوَىٰ ʾaqwā “stronger”
«ضعف»	ضَعِيفٌ ḍaɛīfun “weak”	أَضْعَفُ ʾaḍɛafu “weaker”
«کثر»	کَثِيرٌ kat͡hīrun “many”	أَکْثَرُ ʾakt͡haru “more”
«قل»	قَلِيلٌ qalīlun “few/less”	أَقَلُّ ʾaqallu “fewer/lesser”

Note the following points regarding the form of the noun of superiority:

• Nouns of superiority are regularly of the pattern أَفْعَلُ ʾafɛalu using the template root «فعل».
• Nouns of superiority are non-fully changing nouns, so they are not nūnated and the indefinite noun in the i-state will have an a-mark on the last letter.
• If a root’s last two letters are the same, it is shown as a two-letter root and the noun of superiority is formed by doubling the last letter. Example: «جد»: أَجَدُّ ʾajaddu “newer”.
• If a root’s last letter is و or ي, then the noun of superiority’s last letter will be ىٰ. Example: «قوي»: أَقْوَىٰ ʾaqwā “stronger”.

You may remember that the pattern of the identical is identical to the pattern of colors and physical characteristics. For example أَحْمَرُ ʾaḥmaru “red”. However, this similarity is largely superficial. We will see that nouns of superiority are feminized differently and sometimes not at all.

24.2 Comparing two nouns

Nouns of superiority can be used to compare a qualitative quality between two nouns. Here is an example sentence:

ٱَلْغُلَامُ أَطْوَلُ مِنَ ٱلْجَارِيَةِ.
ʾalg͡hulāmu ʾaṭwalu mina -ljāriyati.
“The boy is taller than the girl.”

Here you can see that the preposition مِنْ min is used to mean “than”.

If we wish to say: “The girl is taller than the boy.”, we will use the same أَطْوَل ʾaṭwalu even though the subject “the girl” is now feminine:

ٱَلْجَارِيَةِ أَطْوَلُ مِنَ ٱلْغُلَامُ.
ʾaljāriyati ʾaṭwalu mina -lg͡hulāmu.
“The girl is taller than the boy.”

Similarly, if the subject noun to be compared is a plural, whether masculine or feminine, rational or non-rational, the same noun of superiority is used. Examples:

ٱَلرِّجَالُ أَطْوَلُ مِنَ ٱلنِّسَاءِ وَهُنَّ أَقْصَرُ مِنْهُمْ.
ʾarrijālu ʾatwalu mina -nnisāʾi wa hunna ʾaqṣaru minhum.
“The men are taller than the women and they_fem. are shorter than them_masc..”

ٱلْکُتُبُ أَثُقَلُ مِنَ ٱلْأَقْلَامِ.
ʾalkutubu ʾat͡hqalu mina -lʾaqlāmi.
“The books are heavier than the pens.”

24.2.1 Nouns of superiority without a second noun

The above example compared one noun to another. Often, the second noun need not be mentioned. For example,

ٱلْکُتُبُ أَثْقَلُ.
ʾalkutubu ʾat͡hqalu.
“The books are heavier.”

24.3 Conveying the meaning of the highest degree

The same nouns of superiority are also used in Arabic to convey the meaning of the highest degree of a quality, like “the biggest house”, “the weakest link”, “the best book”, etc. This can be done in a number of ways.

24.3.1 With indefinite noun-chains

The most common way to express this in Arabic is using a noun-chain with the noun of superiority and an indefinite noun. Here is an example:

هُوَ أَسْرَعُ غُلَامٍ فِي ٱلْمَدْرَسَةِ.
huwa ʾasraɛu g͡hulāmin fi -lmadrasati.
“He is the fastest boy in the school.”

An important point to note is that while in English we used the definite in the translation: “the fastest boy”, in Arabic the noun-phrase أَسْرَعُ غُلَامٍ ʾasraɛu g͡hulāmin is technically indefinite. It is just hard to find a suitable translation in English where the noun-phrase could be indefinite.

The same noun of superiority is used with feminine and dual/plural nouns. Examples:

هِيَ أَطْوَلُ ٱمْرَأَةٍ.
hiya ʾaṭwalu -mraʾatin.
“She is the tallest woman.”

هُمَا أَطْوَلُ رَجُلَيْنِ.
humā ʾaṭwalu rajulayni.
“They are tallest (two) men.”

هُنَّ أَطْوَلُ نِسَاءٍ.
hunna ʾaṭwalu nisāʾin.
“They are the tallest women.”

24.3.2 With definite noun-chains

The noun of superiority can also be used in definite noun-chains with a slightly different meaning. However, the second noun of the noun-chain will need to be in the plural. Examples:

هُوَ أَطْوَلُ ٱلرِّجَالِ.
huwa ʾaṭwalu -rrijāli.
“He is the tallest of the men.”

هُمَا أَطْوَلُ ٱلنِّسَاءِ
humā ʾaṭwalu -nnisāʾi.
“They (two) are the tallest of the women.”

24.4 Feminine, dual, and plural forms

So far we have used only one form of the noun of superiority: أَفْعَلُ ʾafɛalu. Technically, this is the masculine singular form, although it can be used for feminine, dual, and plural nouns as we have seen above.

However, when the meaning of the highest degree is to be conveyed for definite nouns without using noun-chains, then we will use new feminine, dual, and plurals forms for the noun of superiority. We will give these forms below:

Number	Masc.	Fem.
sing.	أَفْعَلُ ʾafɛalu	فُعْلَىٰ fuɛlā
dual	أَفْعَلَانِ ʾafɛalāni	فُعْلَيَانِ fuɛlayāni
sound plur.	أَفْعَلُونَ ʾafɛalūna	فُعْلَيَاتٌ fuɛlayātun
broken plur.	أَفَاعِلُ ʾafāɛilu	فُعَلٌ fuɛalun

These forms are to be used when the noun of superiority is usually definite and either:

1. by itself, or
2. a describer.

We will give some examples below:

هُوَ ٱلرَّجُلُ ٱلْأَطْوَلُ.
huwa -rrajulu -lʾaṭwalu.
“He is the tallest man.”

هِيَ ٱلْمَرْأَةُ ٱلطُّولَىٰ.
hiya -lmarʾatu -ṭṭūlā.
“She is the tallest woman.”

هُمَا ٱلرَّجُلَانِ ٱلْأَطْوَلَانِ.
huma -rrajulāni -lʾaṭwalāni.
“They_masc. dual are the two tallest men.”

هُمَا ٱلْمَرْأَتَانِ ٱلطُّولَيَانِ.
huma -lmarʾatāni -ṭṭūlayāni.
“They_fem. dual are the two tallest women.”

هَـٰؤُلَاءِ هُمُ ٱلرِّجَالُ ٱلْأَطْوَلُونَ وَأُولَـٰئِکَ هُمُ ٱلأَقَاصِرُ.
hāʾulāʾi humu -rrijālu -lʾaṭwalūna waʾulāʾika humu -lʾaqāṣiru.
“These are the tallest men and those are the shortest [men].”

هَـٰؤُلَاءِ هُنَّ ٱلنِّسَاءُ ٱلطُّولَيَاتُ وَأُولَـٰئِکَ هُنَّ ٱلقُصَرُ.
hāʾulāʾi hunna -nnisāʾu -ṭṭūlayātu waʾulāʾika hunna -lquṣaru.
“These are the tallest women and those are the shortest [women].”

24.4.1 Plural forms with non-rational beings

If a noun of superiority is to be used with a definite plural noun for (masculine or feminine) non-rational beings, either by itself or as a describer, then it will usually be the feminine singular form. This is consistent with what we have learned so far regarding the use of feminine singular qualitative nouns and pronouns for non-rational beings. Here is an example:

ٱَلْکُتُبُ ٱلْکَبِيرَةُ هِيَ ٱلثُّقْلَىٰ.
ʾalkutubu -lkabīratu hiya -t͡ht͡huqlā.
“The big books are the heaviest.”

Sometimes, however, if the plural noun is not mentioned in a sentence we can use the broken plural of the feminine noun of superiority to convey the meaning of plurality. For example,

قَسَمْتُ ٱلْأَقْلَامَ. هَـٰؤُلَاءِ هُنَّ ٱلطُّوَلُ وَأُولَـٰئِکَ هُنَّ ٱلقُصَرُ.
qasamtu -lʾaqlāma. hāʾulāʾi hunna -ṭṭuwalu waʾulāʾika hunna -lquṣaru.
“I divided the pens. These are the tallest and those are the shortest.”

24.4.2 Dual and plural forms in definite noun-chains

In section X above we learned that that definite noun-chains use the form أَفْعَلُ ʾafɛalu. We gave the following examples:

هُوَ أَطْوَلُ ٱلرِّجَالِ.
huwa ʾaṭwalu -rrijāli.
“He is the tallest of the men.”

هُمَا أَطْوَلُ ٱلنِّسَاءِ
humā ʾaṭwalu -nnisāʾi.
“They (two) are the tallest of the women.”

We now modify this rule to state that dual and plural forms of the noun of superiority can be used as well, especially when no other indication of number is present.

For example, in the sentence,

هُمْ أَطْوَلُ ٱلرِّجَالِ.
hum ʾaṭwalu -rrijāli.
“They_masc. plur. are the tallest of the men.”

the pronoun هُمْ tells us that we are talking about multiple persons who are the tallest of the men. But if we have a sentence like:

ذَهَبَ أَطْوَلُ ٱلرِّجَالِ.
d͡hahaba ʾaṭwalu -rrijāli.
“The tallest of the men went.”

Here we cannot say that one man had gone or more than one. To remove this ambiguity we can use the plural form أَطَاوِلُ ʾaṭāwilu thus:

ذَهَبَ أَطَاوِلُ ٱلرِّجَالِ.
d͡hahaba ʾaṭāwilu -rrijāli.
“The tallest_plur. of the men went.”

24.5 Comparing a noun with itself

A noun can be compared with itself in a different respect. For example, we can say:

“The tree is closer to Zayd than it is to Muḥammad.”

Here the tree is being compared with itself with respect to its position near Zayd and its position near Muḥammad. We will use the appropriate attached pronoun for the object being compared and attach it tp the preposition of comparison مِنْ min “than”. So the above sentence can be expressed as:

ٱَلشَّجَرَةُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَىٰ زَيْدٍ مِنْهَا إِلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ.
ʾas͡hs͡hajaratu ʾaqrabu ʾilā zaydin minhā ʾilā muḥammadin.

The attached pronoun ـهَا -hā refers to ٱَلشَّجَرَةُ ʾas͡hs͡hajaratu “the tree”. The preposition إِلَىٰ ʾilā is used with the noun of superiority أَقْرَبُ ʾaqrabu to express “nearer to”.

24.6 Attention to the definiteness and plurality of noun-chains

We have seen that if a noun of superiority is used in an indefinite noun-chain, it conveys the idea of the highest degree, and the singularity or plurality of second noun in the noun-chain conveys the number of object whose superiority is being expressed. The examples we gave were:

هِيَ أَطْوَلُ ٱمْرَأَةٍ.
hiya ʾaṭwalu -mraʾatin.
“She is the tallest woman.”

هُمَا أَطْوَلُ رَجُلَيْنِ.
humā ʾaṭwalu rajulayni.
“They are tallest (two) men.”

هُنَّ أَطْوَلُ نِسَاءٍ.
hunna ʾaṭwalu nisāʾin.
“They are the tallest women.”

Here we would like to stress that second-noun of the noun chain must be indefinite. So, for example, we can have a sentence:

هَـٰذَا أَکْبَرُ بَيْتٍ.
hād͡hā ʾakbaru baytin.
“This is the biggest house.”

If we would like to express “This is the biggest house of the city” then we cannot simply extend the noun-chain by adding ٱلْمَدِينَةِ -lmadīnati “of the city” to it thus:

هَـٰذَا أَکْبَرُ بَيْتِ ٱلْمَدِينَةِ.
hād͡hā ʾakbaru bayti -lmadīnati.

This is because the noun-chain is now definite. This sentence can now only mean “This is the biggest [part] of the house of the city.”

In order to express the desired meaning, we have a few options with similar meanings:

هَـٰذَا بَيْتُ ٱلْمَدِينَةِ ٱلْأَکْبَرُ.
hād͡hā baytu -lmadīnati -lʾakbaru. “This is the biggest house of the city.”

هَـٰذَا أَکْبَرُ بَيْتٍ فِي ٱلْمَدِينَةِ.
hād͡hā ʾakbaru baytin fi -lmadīnati.
“This is the biggest house in the city.”

هَـٰذَا أَکْبَرُ بُيُوتِ ٱلْمَدِينَةِ.
hād͡hā ʾakbaru buyūti -lmadīnati.
“This is the biggest of the houses of the city.”

24.7 Expressing “better than” and “worse than”

To express the meaning “better” Arabic can use أَحْسَنُ ʾaḥsanu from حَسَنٌ ḥasanun. There is also the word أَفْضَلُ ʾafḍalu is very commonly used. Technically it means “more preferred” but it is often used where in English we would say “better”.

Similarly, to express worse we can use أَسْوَأُ ʾaswaʾu from سَيِّئٌ sayyiʾun.

In addition, there are two words: خَيْرٌ k͡hayrun and شَرٌّ s͡harrun, which are really designative nouns meaning “goodness” and “evil” respectively.

These same words, although they not in the pattern أَفْعَلُ ʾafɛalu, are used with مِنْ min “than” to express “better” and “worse” respectively. Here are some examples:

24.8 The word “other”

The word آخَرُ ʾāk͡haru is a qualitative noun meaning “other”. It is actually on the pattern of the noun of superiority أَفْعَلُ ʾafɛalu with the root «ءخر» but is somewhat of an anomaly because it does not have a meaning of superiority and is not used for comparison. That is to say: we cannot say that something is more “other” than something else. It shares some of the qualities of the noun of superiority in the formation of its feminine and plurals. We will describe these and their usages below.

Number	Masc.	Fem.
sing.	آخَر ʾāk͡haru	أُخْرَىٰ ʾuk͡hrā
dual	آخَرَانِ ʾāk͡harāni	أُخْرَيَانِ ʾuk͡hrayāni
sound plur.	آخَرُونَ ʾāk͡harūna	أُخْرَيَاتٌ ʾuk͡hrayātun
broken plur.	أَوَاخِرُ ʾawāk͡hiru	أُخَرُ ʾuk͡haru

Note that the masculine broken plural أَوَاخِرُ ʾawāk͡hiru (on the pattern أَفَاعِلُ ʾafāɛilu) has replaced the ء in the root with a و. This is a regular replacement in order to avoid two ءs next to one another in أَءَاخِرُ ʾaʾāk͡hiru. This broken plural is given here for completeness but it is actually very rarely used. The sound ūn plural آخَرُونَ ʾāk͡harūna is used instead.

Also note that the feminine broken plural أُخَرُ ʾuk͡haru is non-fully changing. This is irregular because the broken plural pattern فُعَلٌ fuɛalun is usually fully-changing.

We use آخَرُ ʾāk͡haru just like any other qualitative noun and we will give some examples below.

جَاءَ زَيْدٌ وَرَجُلٌ آخَرُ.
jāʾa zaydun warajulun ʾāk͡haru.
“Zayd and another man came.”

ذَهَبَتْ زَيْنَبُ إِلَى ٱلْمَدْرَسَةِ ٱلْأُخْرَىٰ.
d͡hahabat zaynabu ʾila -lmadrasati -lʾuk͡hrā.
“Zaynab went to the other school.”

قَرَأْتُ هَـٰذَا ٱلْکِتَابَ وَکِتَابَيْنِ آخَرَيْنِ.
qaraʾtu hād͡ha -lkitāba wakitābayni ʾāk͡harayni.
“I read this book and two other books.”

ذَهَبَ رِجَالٌ آخَرُونَ.
d͡hahaba rijālun ʾāk͡harūna
“Other men went.”

ذَهَبَتْ زَيْنَبُ مَعَ ٱلنِّسَاءِ ٱلْأُخْرَيَاتِ.
d͡hahabat zaynabu maɛa -nnisāʾi -lʾuk͡hrayāti.
“Zaynab went with the other women.”

With non-rational nouns, just like other qualitative nouns, the feminine singular is usually used. Example:

قَرَأْتُ هَـٰذَا ٱلْکِتَابَ وَکُتُبًا أُخْرَىٰ.
qaraʾtu hād͡ha -lkitāba wakutuban ʾuk͡hrā.
“I read this book and other books.”

However, the feminine broken plural أُخَرُ ʾuk͡haru can also be used, especially if there is no other indication of plurality. Examples:

هَـٰذَا ٱلْکِتَابُ خَفِيفٌ وَٱلْأُخَرُ ثَقِيلَةٌ.
hād͡ha -lkitābu k͡hafīfun wa-lʾuk͡haru t͡haqīlatun.
“This book is light and the others are heavy.”

قَرَأَ هَـٰذَا ٱلْکِتَابَ وَقَرَأَ أُخَرَ.
qaraʾa -lkitāba waqaraʾa ʾuk͡hara.
“He read this book and and he read others.”