Learn Farsi: خرس وحشی به اندازه‌ی فیل قوی نیست. - The wild bear is not as strong as the elephant.

In Farsi, to say "as [adjective] as", you use be andâze-ye (literally "to the measure of") followed by the noun you are comparing to (fil), and then the adjective (ghavi). So the sentence structure literally reads "The wild bear, to the measure of an elephant, strong is not."

Why do we say andâze-ye instead of just andâze?

The word andâze ends in a silent letter that makes an 'e' sound. When linking it to the next word (fil) using the Ezāfe (the linking vowel), we cannot put two vowels right next to each other. We add a 'y' sound to bridge them, making it andâze-ye.

How is the phrase "the wild bear" formed at the start of the sentence?

Farsi places the adjective after the noun and connects them with the Ezāfe linking vowel. The noun khers (bear) connects to the adjective vahshi (wild) with an 'e' sound, giving us khers-e vahshi. Notice there is no separate word for "the" here; it is understood from the context.

Could I use mesl-e instead of be andâze-ye in this sentence?

Yes, you could say mesl-e fil ghavi nist, which means "not strong like an elephant". Both are correct, but be andâze-ye emphasizes the degree or amount of the trait (literally "to the amount of an elephant"), which is very natural for a measurable trait like strength.