This page will delve into the usage of adjectives in the Persian language, namely their placements and usage. This lesson will investigate the incredibly important grammatical concept of ezāfe (اضافه) as previously mentioned, and how the comparative and superlative adjective forms are created.

Adjective Placement

Adjectives, in Persian, come after nouns, unlike English. For instance, a red book in Persian would literally be "book-red," with an ezāfe (اضافه) in between the two words. Ezāfe (اضافه) is a fairly simple concept in Persian. When you want to place an adjective after a noun in your sentence (e.g: book, table, bottle,) you add the soft vowel "-e" (see Lesson 1 - Alphabet) after the noun and then place your adjective. Note that if the noun ends with a vowel, you use "-ye" (یِ) instead (e.g: "the big house" would be khāne-ye bozorg (خانـه‌یِ بزرگ)).

Take the following examples of adjective placements in Persian:

• "Sea of Marmara," daryā-ye marmare (دریایِ مرمره)

• "University of Tabriz," dāneshgah-e Tabriz (دانشگاهِ تبریز)

Comparative and Superlatives

Comparatives are simply used in adjectives to express a comparison between two things (e.g: "Science class was better than English class.") The word "better" is a comparative adjective, and in Persian to form a comparative adjective, one simply needs to add "-tar" (تر) to the end of the adjective. 

Examples include:

• "Big" bozorg (بزرگ) --> "Bigger" bozorgtar (بزرگتر) 

• "Small" kuchek (کوچک) --> "Smaller" kuchektar (کوچکتر) 

• "Easy" āsān (آسان) --> "Easier" āsāntar (آسانتر) 

Superlatives are used in adjectives to express a superiority of three or more things (e.g: "This ice cream is the best.") The previous sentence implies that there is three or more ice cream flavours (since using the superlative for comparing two things would sound weird.) The word "best" is a superlative adjective, and in Persian to form a comparative adjective, one simply needs to add "-tarin" (ترین) to the end of the adjective. 

Examples include:

• "Big" bozorg (بزرگ) --> "Biggest" bozorgtarin (بزرگترین) 

• "Small" kuchek (کوچک) --> "Smallest" kuchektarin (کوچکترین) 

• "Easy" āsān (آسان) --> "Easiest" āsāntarin (آسانترین) 

A Note on Comparative Sentence Making

Often times in Persian when one wants to draw a direct comparison between two things (e.g: chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla ice cream,) the preposition az (از) is used to denote the two things. (Note: the concept of prepositions will be discussed in a later lesson.)

Let's use our example sentence above as an example comparative sentence.

"Chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla ice cream."

Bastani-e shokolāti az bastani-e vānilāi behtar ast. 

(.بستنی شکلاتی از بستنی وانیلی بهتر است)