Comparing things: bigger, best
Arabic · Key Stage 2 · The School
One pattern, many comparatives
كَبير, big, becomes أَكْبَر, bigger. صَغير, small, becomes أَصْغَر, smaller. جَميل, beautiful, becomes أَجْمَل, more beautiful. Spot the pattern: أَ at the start, and the middle vowel drops away.
Saying 'than'
مِن does the job of 'than' in a comparison: البَيْتُ أَكْبَرُ مِنَ المَدْرَسةِ — the house is bigger than the school. Without مِن, أَكْبَر just floats without telling you bigger than what.
The same word for 'biggest' too
The very same أَكْبَر pattern also means "biggest", the superlative, when it comes before its noun with the article: أَكْبَرُ بَيْتٍ, the biggest house. One pattern doing two jobs, told apart by its position in the sentence, not by any extra ending.
Comparing two things yourself
القِطَّةُ أَصْغَرُ مِنَ الكَلْبِ — the cat is smaller than the dog. Pick two things you know the Arabic word for, choose an adjective from this lesson, reshape it into the أَفْعَل pattern, and join the two with مِن. Say your sentence aloud before writing it down.