To talk about your fitness progress, compare diets, or evaluate different exercises, you often compare two subjects or states. Turkish does this using two postpositions: kıyasla and oranla.
The Dative Case with Kıyasla and Oranla
Both kıyasla (compared to) and oranla (relative to / by proportion) serve the same function.
The noun or pronoun you are comparing against takes the dative suffix -(y)a or -(y)e. If the word ends in a vowel, use the buffer letter y (or n for pronouns and possessive suffixes).
Using Kıyasla
Attach the dative suffix to the baseline of your comparison, followed by kıyasla. For example, geçen yıl (last year) becomes geçen yıla kıyasla, and the pronoun o (he/him/it) becomes ona kıyasla.
| Compared to last year, my fitness level is very good. | Geçen yıla kıyasla kondisyonum çok iyi. |
| Despite trying hard, I am weak at push-ups compared to him. | Çok çabalamama rağmen ona kıyasla şınavda zayıfım. |
Using Oranla
Oranla works exactly the same way. While mostly interchangeable with kıyasla, oranla carries a slightly stronger sense of proportion.
| Relative to a young person, an old person's metabolism is slower. | Genç bir kişiye oranla yaşlı birinin metabolizması daha yavaş. |
| Your agility is gradually increasing compared to the first month. | İlk aya oranla çevikliğin giderek artıyor. |
Discussing Diet and Body Changes
These postpositions are extremely common when discussing nutrition or physical improvements. Notice how karbonhidrat takes the dative suffix to become karbonhidrata, and eskisi (its old state / before) takes the pronominal buffer n to become eskisine.
| Compared to carbohydrates, protein keeps a person full for a longer time. | Karbonhidrata oranla protein insanı daha uzun süre tok tutar. |
| Your posture looks much better compared to before. | Eskisine kıyasla duruşun çok daha iyi görünüyor. |