Learn Turkish: Büyük incirler küçükler kadar tatlı değil. - The big figs are not as sweet as the small ones.

In English, we say "the small ones" so we don't repeat the noun. In Turkish, you can just treat the adjective itself like a noun! By adding the plural suffix -ler directly to the adjective küçük (small), it becomes küçükler (the small ones).

How does the "as... as" comparison work here? Where is the first "as"?

Turkish doesn't use a two-part phrase like English does. You just put the noun you are comparing against (küçükler), followed by the postposition kadar (meaning "as much as"), and then the adjective (tatlı). Literally, it reads as "the small ones as-much-as sweet".

Does kadar require a specific case ending on küçükler?

When using kadar with regular nouns (including adjectives turned into nouns, like küçükler), the noun takes no case ending and stays in the basic nominative form. You only need the genitive case with kadar when it follows certain personal pronouns, like benim kadar (as much as me).

Why isn't it tatlı değiller since "figs" are plural?

In Turkish grammar, when the subject of a sentence is non-human (like incirler, meaning figs), the verb or predicate usually remains in the singular form. That is why the sentence ends with değil rather than the plural değiller.