Urban Lebanese has two central ways to say “more X.” Frequent basic adjectives often have an inherited elative form such as كبير ← أكبر “bigger,” غالي ← أغلى “more expensive,” and منيح ← أحسن “better.” For adjectives without a convenient lexical elative, أكتر + adjective is productive: أكتر مرتب “more organized.”
Both strategies normally introduce the comparison standard with من “than.” Unlike ordinary adjectives, inherited elatives stay in one form across masculine, feminine, and plural subjects.
Inherited elatives are lexical forms
The common elative pattern resembles أفعل, but sound changes and irregular meanings make memorization more reliable than mechanical derivation.
| Positive adjective | Elative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| كبير kbīr | أكبر akbar | bigger, older |
| زغير zghīr | أصغر aṣghar | smaller, younger |
| طويل ṭawīl | أطول aṭwal | taller, longer |
| قصير ʾaṣīr | أقصر aʾṣar | shorter |
| غالي ghāle | أغلى aghla | more expensive |
| رخيص rkhīṣ | أرخص arkhaṣ | cheaper |
| منيح mnīḥ | أحسن aḥsan | better |
| حلو ḥelo | أحلى aḥla | nicer, prettier |
هيدا البيت أكبر من بيتنا.
hayda l-bēt akbar min bētna.
This house is bigger than ours. (informal; inherited elative plus من)
هاد الطريق أقصر من طريق الجبل.
hād eṭ-ṭarīʾ aʾṣar min ṭarīʾ el-zhabal.
This road is shorter than the mountain road. (informal; masculine noun with invariant elative)
القهوة اليوم أحسن من مبارح.
el-ʾahwe l-yōm aḥsan min mbēreḥ.
The coffee is better today than yesterday. (informal; time as comparison standard)
There is no safe rule that every descriptive adjective has a natural elative. أحسن is not mechanically built from منيح, and a theoretically possible form may still be rare in Beirut conversation. Learn high-frequency pairs as vocabulary.
One elative form across gender and number
An inherited comparative does not copy the gender and number forms of the positive adjective. أكبر stays أكبر whether the compared subject is a man, woman, human group, or set of objects.
| Subject type | Positive description | Comparative |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | رامي كبير Rāme kbīr | رامي أكبر من سامر |
| feminine singular | مايا كبيرة Māya kbīre | مايا أكبر من رنا |
| human plural | هولي الولاد كبار hawle l-wlād kbār | هولي الولاد أكبر من رفقاتهن |
| nonhuman plural | هالشنط كبيرة hal-shonaṭ kbīre | هالشنط أكبر من هيديك |
مايا أكبر من خيها بسنتين.
Māya akbar min khayya b-santēn.
Maya is two years older than her brother. (informal; feminine subject, invariant أكبر)
هولي الطلاب أسرع من المجموعة التانية.
hawle ṭ-ṭollēb asraʿ min el-mazhmūʿa t-tēnye.
These students are faster than the other group. (informal; human plural, invariant أسرع)
هالماكينات أسرع من القديمة.
hal-mākīnāt asraʿ min el-ʾdīme.
These machines are faster than the old one. (informal; nonhuman plural, invariant أسرع)
Do not create أكبرة for a woman or أكبرين for a group. The positive adjective agrees; the inherited elative is morphologically fixed in this construction.
Productive أكتر plus an agreeing adjective
For complex, participial, borrowed, or simply less lexicalized descriptions, أكتر provides the comparative meaning while the following adjective retains its ordinary agreement.
نادين أكتر مرتبة من رامي.
Nādīn aktar mrattabe min Rāme.
Nadine is more organized than Rami. (informal; أكتر plus feminine adjective)
هيدا الشرح أكتر واضح من الأول.
hayda sh-shareḥ aktar wāḍeḥ min el-awwal.
This explanation is clearer than the first one. (informal; productive analytic comparative)
الموظفين الجداد أكتر منتبهين من قبل.
el-mwaẓẓafīn el-zhdēd aktar mintibhīn min ʾabl.
The new employees are more attentive than before. (informal; human plural agreement after أكتر)
هالغرف أكتر مرتبة من يلي شفناهن مبارح.
hal-ghoraf aktar mrattabe min yalle shifnēhon mbēreḥ.
These rooms are tidier than the ones we saw yesterday. (informal; grouped nonhuman plural, feminine singular)
Here أكتر is invariant, but مرتب/مرتبة/مرتبين behaves normally. With nonhuman plurals, the following adjective can show grouped feminine-singular agreement or, for salient individual items, plural agreement.
هالكراسي أكتر مريحين من هيدوليك.
hal-karēse aktar mrīḥīn min haydōlīk.
These chairs are more comfortable than those ones. (informal; individuated nonhuman plural)
The analytic and inherited strategies sometimes compete: أغلى is shorter and more lexicalized than أكتر غالي, but both can be understood. Natural usage favors the established elative for the most frequent basic adjectives.
What can follow من?
The standard may be a full noun phrase, a pronoun suffix, a time, or an expected limit.
هيدي أحلى من التانية.
hayde aḥla min et-tēnye.
This one is prettier than the other one. (informal; feminine ellipsis in the standard)
أختي بتحكي أكتر مني.
ukhte btiḥke aktar minne.
My sister talks more than I do. (informal; suffixed standard)
الطريق أخد وقت أكتر من اللازم.
eṭ-ṭarīʾ akhad waʾt aktar min el-lāzem.
The trip took longer than it should have. (informal; expected-limit standard)
With أكتر مني, the omitted material is inferred from the clause: “more than I do.” Lebanese does not need to repeat the entire verb phrase when the comparison is clear.
A comparative after the noun is not a superlative
Position distinguishes two useful meanings:
بدي قميص أرخص من هيدا.
badde ʾamīṣ arkhaṣ min hayda.
I want a shirt cheaper than this one. (informal; postnominal comparative)
بدي أرخص قميص بالمحل.
badde arkhaṣ ʾamīṣ bil-maḥall.
I want the cheapest shirt in the shop. (informal; preposed superlative construction)
English places both cheaper and cheapest before the noun. Lebanese postposes the ordinary comparative description but preposes an elative in the common superlative construction. The next page develops definite comparison.
Choosing an apartment
أي شقة أوسع، هاي ولا التانية؟
ayy shiʾʾa awsaʿ, hāy walla t-tēnye?
Maya: Which apartment is more spacious, this one or the other one? (informal dialogue; beginner هاي)
هيدي أوسع، بس التانية أهدى.
hayde awsaʿ, bass et-tēnye ahda.
Rami: This one is more spacious, but the other one is quieter. (informal; common Lebanese هيدي and invariant elatives)
والأرخص؟
wil-arkhaṣ?
Maya: And the cheaper one? (informal; natural adjective ellipsis)
الزغيرة أرخص، والكبيرة أكتر مرتبة.
ez-zghīre arkhaṣ, wil-kbīre aktar mrattabe.
Rami: The small one is cheaper, and the big one is tidier. (informal; feminine ellipsis and two comparative strategies)
Common Mistakes
Putting a comparative before the noun and accidentally making it superlative
❌ بدي أرخص قميص.
Incorrect for ‘I want a cheaper shirt’ — this normally means ‘I want the cheapest shirt.’
✅ بدي قميص أرخص.
badde ʾamīṣ arkhaṣ.
I want a cheaper shirt. (informal; postnominal comparative)
Omitting من before an explicit standard
❌ هيدا البيت أكبر بيتنا.
Incorrect — an explicit ‘than’ standard is introduced by من.
✅ هيدا البيت أكبر من بيتنا.
hayda l-bēt akbar min bētna.
This house is bigger than ours. (informal)
Making an inherited elative feminine
❌ مايا أكبرة من رنا.
Incorrect — the inherited elative stays أكبر with a feminine subject.
✅ مايا أكبر من رنا.
Māya akbar min Rana.
Maya is older than Rana. (informal; invariant elative)
Applying feminine singular to a human plural after أكتر
❌ الموظفين أكتر مرتبة من قبل.
Incorrect in the Beirut baseline — the adjective after أكتر must be plural with human employees.
✅ الموظفين أكتر مرتبين من قبل.
el-mwaẓẓafīn aktar mrattabīn min ʾabl.
The employees are more organized than before. (informal; human plural)
Dropping the article from an ordinary definite adjective
❌ قارنت البيت الكبير مع البيت زغير.
Incorrect for ‘the small house’ — comparative context does not cancel definiteness agreement.
✅ قارنت البيت الكبير مع البيت الزغير.
ʾārant el-bēt el-kbīr maʿ el-bēt ez-zghīr.
I compared the big house with the small house. (neutral; article repeated on both attributive adjectives)
Key Takeaways
Use memorized elatives such as أكبر، أحسن، أغلى for frequent basic comparisons, and productive أكتر + adjective when no natural lexical elative is available. Elatives stay invariant; adjectives after أكتر agree normally. Introduce an explicit standard with من, and keep the word-order contrast between postnominal comparative قميص أرخص and preposed superlative أرخص قميص.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Masculine and Feminine Adjective FormsA1 — Form and use masculine and feminine Lebanese adjectives, including the common -e/-a suffix, vowel changes, and irregular color pairs.
- Adjective Plurals in Lebanese ArabicB1 — Choose lexical broken plurals, productive -īn forms, or invariant loans and apply human versus nonhuman plural agreement in Lebanese.
- Superlatives and Definite ComparisonB1 — Express the highest degree with preposed and article-bearing elatives, superlative constructs, and أكتر شي.
- Degree Modification and Adjective ScaleB1 — Adjust adjective strength with كتير, شوي, هالقد, endpoint-sensitive expressions, and pragmatic understatement.
- Comparative and Equative SentencesA2 — Build complete Lebanese comparisons with elatives, أكتر, من, قدّ, and متل without inserting an English present copula.
- Core Quantifiers: كل, بعض, كتير, and شويA2 — Use Lebanese ‘every/all,’ ‘some,’ ‘many/much,’ and ‘a little’ with the right noun form, definiteness, and scope.