Equality and Similarity: kadar, gibi | Turkish Grammar

Comparison isn't only "more" and "most." Just as often we say two things are equal ("as tall as me") or similar ("like a lion"). Turkish handles both with postpositions — little words that follow their complement rather than precede it. kadar builds equality ("as … as"), and gibi builds similarity ("like"). They are easy to place, but they hide one rule that trips up every learner: their complement is bare for ordinary nouns but genitive for pronouns. Say benim kadar, never ben kadar. This page makes that rule second nature.

kadar: "as … as"

The equality frame is X kadar + adjective, meaning "as [adjective] as X." The word kadar "as much as / to the extent of" follows the standard of comparison and precedes the adjective.

benim kadar uzun "as tall as me"
senin kadar hızlı "as fast as you"

Kardeşim benim kadar uzun, artık aynı boydayız.

My brother is as tall as me, we're the same height now.

Bu otel diğeri kadar temiz değil.

This hotel isn't as clean as the other one.

The structure is the mirror image of the comparative: where the comparative marked the standard with the ablative ("from me, taller"), the equality construction uses the postposition kadar after the standard ("me as-much-as tall"). Note that kadar sits between the standard and the adjective: benim kadar uzun, literally "me as-much-as tall."

gibi: "like / similar to"

For similarity rather than exact equality, use gibi "like." It follows a noun and means "like X, resembling X."

aslan gibi "like a lion"
çocuk gibi "like a child"

Aslan gibi cesurdu, hiçbir şeyden korkmazdı.

He was brave like a lion, he feared nothing.

Neden çocuk gibi davranıyorsun? Ciddi ol.

Why are you behaving like a child? Be serious.

Tıpkı annesi gibi gülüyor.

She laughs exactly like her mother.

gibi can attach to a description of manner ("like a lion," "like a child") or to a whole comparison of resemblance ("just like her mother," with tıpkı "exactly" added for emphasis). It is one of the most frequently used words in everyday Turkish.

The key rule: bare for nouns, genitive for pronouns

Now the rule that matters. Both kadar and gibi are postpositions whose complement is bare for nouns but genitive for personal pronouns. That means:

With an ordinary noun, you use the plain (bare) form: aslan gibi, çocuk gibi, Ali kadar, deniz kadar.
With a personal pronoun (and a few demonstratives), you must use the genitive form: benim, senin, onun, bizim, sizin, onların.

So:

"as tall as me" → benim kadar uzun (NOT ben kadar)
"like you" → senin gibi (NOT sen gibi)
"as much as us" → bizim kadar

Sen de benim kadar yorgunsun, biliyorum.

You're as tired as me too, I know.

Senin gibi bir arkadaşım olduğu için şanslıyım.

I'm lucky to have a friend like you.

Onun kadar sabırlı biri daha yok.

There's no one as patient as him.

Why pronouns and not nouns? Historically these postpositions descend from possessed nouns ("your extent," "your likeness"), and the personal pronouns preserve that old genitive linkage, while ordinary nouns have shed it. You don't need the history to use it — but you do need the reflex: pronoun before kadar/gibi → put it in the genitive. This is the same complement-case behaviour you see with other postpositions, so it's worth internalizing once for the whole family.

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Pronoun before kadar or gibi → genitive: benim, senin, onun, bizim, sizin, onların. So "like me" is benim gibi and "as tall as you" is senin kadar uzun. Plain nouns stay bare: aslan gibi, Ali kadar. Never *ben gibi or *sen kadar.

o kadar / bu kadar: "so / this much"

A high-frequency idiom uses kadar with the demonstratives o "that" and bu "this" to mean "that much / so" and "this much." These are intensifiers of degree, equivalent to English "so" or "that."

o kadar "so much / that much"
bu kadar "this much / so"

Hava bu kadar güzelken evde oturmak yazık.

It's a shame to sit at home when the weather is this nice.

Onu o kadar özledim ki anlatamam.

I missed him so much that I can't even describe it.

O kadar çok yedim ki kıpırdayamıyorum.

I ate so much that I can't move.

Here bu kadar güzel means "this beautiful / so beautiful," and o kadar before an adjective or verb means "so / that much." Note that with the demonstratives bu/o in this idiom you use the bare form (o kadar, bu kadar), not the genitive — these are the frozen degree expressions, distinct from the pronoun rule above. The o kadar … ki "so … that" pattern is extremely common for expressing consequences.

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o kadar and bu kadar are fixed degree intensifiers — "so / that much" and "this much." Pair o kadar … ki to mean "so … that": O kadar yorgunum ki uyuyakaldım "I'm so tired that I fell asleep."

Negating equality and similarity

To say something is not as … as, add değil "not" after the adjective: X kadar [adjective] değil. To say something is not like X, use X gibi değil.

Bu yıl geçen yıl kadar soğuk değil.

This year isn't as cold as last year.

Burası hiç de anlattıkları gibi değil.

This place isn't at all like they described.

The negation sits at the very end, on the predicate, exactly as it does for any predicate adjective. The kadar / gibi phrase stays intact in front of it.

Common mistakes

❌ Ben kadar uzun.

Incorrect — a pronoun before kadar must be genitive: benim kadar uzun.

✅ Benim kadar uzun.

As tall as me.

❌ Sen gibi biri.

Incorrect — a pronoun before gibi must be genitive: senin gibi biri.

✅ Senin gibi biri.

Someone like you.

❌ Aslanın gibi cesur.

Incorrect — an ordinary noun before gibi stays bare; don't add the genitive: aslan gibi.

✅ Aslan gibi cesur.

Brave like a lion.

❌ O kadarın güzel.

Incorrect — in the degree idiom o/bu kadar is fixed and bare: o kadar güzel.

✅ O kadar güzel.

So beautiful / that beautiful.

❌ Kadar benim uzun.

Incorrect word order — kadar follows its complement: benim kadar uzun.

✅ Benim kadar uzun.

As tall as me.

The error that matters most is the bare pronoun: ben kadar, sen gibi. Train yourself to flip any personal pronoun into its genitive form the instant kadar or gibi follows it. Ordinary nouns, by contrast, stay bare — so the contrast aslan gibi (noun, bare) vs. senin gibi (pronoun, genitive) is exactly the distinction to lock in.

Key takeaways

X kadar + adjective = "as [adjective] as X"; X gibi = "like X." Both are postpositions that follow their complement.
The complement is bare for ordinary nouns (aslan gibi, Ali kadar) but genitive for personal pronouns (benim kadar, senin gibi) — never ben kadar, never sen gibi.
o kadar / bu kadar are fixed degree intensifiers ("so / that much"), and o kadar … ki means "so … that."
Negate with değil at the end: geçen yıl kadar soğuk değil "not as cold as last year."
This bare-vs-genitive split is shared by the whole postposition family; contrast it with the ablative-based comparative.

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