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#tt_newbie Adjectives Adjectives describe or define a noun. This week, we’re going back to the basics and taking a look at everything you need to know about how adjectives work in the Tatar language. Some of the most commonly used adjectives in Tatar are: küp (many, much) – az, əz (few, little) yaña (new) – iske (old) zur (big) – keçkenə (small) yaxşı (good) – naçar (bad) yəş (young) – qart (old) matur (beautiful) – yəmsez (ugly) ozın (long) – qısqa (short) yıraq (far) – yaqın (close) irtə (early) – soñ (late) qaynar, esse (hot) – cılı (warm) – salqın, suwıq (cold) Some adjectives are commonly expressed by a compound adjective in Tatar: ozın buylı keşe (a tall person) – qısqa/təbənək buylı keşe (a short person) isən-saw (healthy) In today’s Tatar literary language, predicate endings in adjectives are uncommon and are only used for emphasis. Compare the first form (common) and the second one (uncommon): min şat – min şatmın – I am happy sin şat – sin şatsıñ – you are happy ul şat – he (she, it) is happy bez şat – bez şatbız – we are happy sez şat – sez şatsız – you are happy alar şat – alar şatlar – they are happy ❗️Emphatic Forms Min bik (ütə, ğəyət) köçle. – I’m very strong. ... məs’ələ artıq citdi, ütə qatlawlı. (Ayaz Ğiləcev, “Tınıçlanu zararlı”) … the matter is extremely serious, very complex. bigrək matur – especially beautiful ➕ Comparative degree If you want to say that one thing is bigger, better, or more interesting than another, the formula is very simple: just add -raq/-rək! zur (big) – zurraq (bigger) yaxşı (good) – yaxşıraq (better) qızıq (interesting) – qızığraq (more interesting) şəp (good) – şəbrək (better) biyek (high) – biyegrək (higher) Aznaqay Qazannan keçkenərək. / Qazanğa qarağanda Aznaqay keçkenərək. – Aznaqay is smaller than Kazan. Sin minnən olıraq. / Sin miña qarağanda olıraq. – You are older than me. Borçaqta isə aqsım, boday belən çağıştırğanda, ikelətə kübrək ... (Marsel Zaripov, “Otışlı əyləneş.) But compared to wheat, peas have twice as much protein, ... 💡 It might sound unusual, but the comparative  -raq/-rək is often attached to other parts of speech, e.g. nouns or pronouns, to express “more”, “more or less”, “somewhat.” Mondaraq kil, mondaraq! (Fətxi Burnaş, “Kamali qart”) – Come closer, closer! (lit. “more over here”) Ul şulayraq uylıy. – He thinks more or less like that. 👑 Superlative degree To express that something or someone is, for example, the most beautiful in the world, you can say: (dönyada) iñ matur –  the most beautiful (in the world) iñ zur qazanışlar – the greatest achievements iñ qart keşe – the oldest person 💡 İñ can be used with many different adjectives. Döm and ör can only be used with certain adjectives: döm qarañğı (very dark), döm suqır (completely blind), döm iserek (very drunk) ör-yaña (brand new) 💡 Some adjectives can become more emphatic by partial reduplication of the first syllable and replacing the last consonant with -p or -m. It is very common in adjectives representing colors (e.g. yəm-yəşel), but we will cover it more extensively when we cover this topic later. For now, here are some other examples: tüm-tügərək or tüp-tügərək – perfectly round bup-buş – absolutely empty tıp-tın – completely quiet, silent qıp-qısqa – very short tup-turı – perfectly straight ap-ayaz – completely clear, cloudless yap-yaqtı – very bright What if you want to compare two people or things that possess the quality to the same degree? We will cover that in a future post. (I promise, it will be as informative as this one!)