kurmanji_complete

‘More than’ followed by a number is expressed by bêtirî (or pirrtirî) +
the number:
Hûn bêtirî pêncî mitrî di binê zemîna
Parîsê de bûn.
Pirrtirî dused û pêncî kuştî ji leşkerên
tirkan hebû.
You were more than fifty meters beneath
the ground of Paris.
There were more than two hundred fifty
slain among the soldiers of the Turks.
The superlative is indicated by context, not by a special form. The first
example in this section could just as well be translated as “I liked them the
most of anything.” A comparative adjective followed by a construct usually
gives the superlative sense, and a following construct is the equivalent of
the English “in.”
Xurşîd dewlementirê gund bû. Khurshid was the richest (person) in the
village.
Wî li kurê xwe dinêrî û xwe bextyartirê
dinê dizanî.
He used to look at his son and consider
himself the luckiest (person) in the
world.
A true superlative adjective is made by adding -tirîn to the adjective, and
such superlatives precede the nouns they modify:
Mezintirîn nav ku bi ziman û
edebiyata kurdî ya klasîk re bûye
yek, Ehmedê Xanî ye.
The greatest name that has occurred in
the classical Kurdish language and literature
is Ahmad Khani.
A second type of superlative is made with herî preceding the adjective.
Like -issimo in Italian, herî gives a superlative sense of “really,” e.g. herî
girîng means “most important” in the sense of “really important.” Superlatives
of compound adjectives like bi quwet ‘powerful’ and past participles
used adjectivally like lipaşmayî ‘backward,’ where the addition of -tir
would be awkward or impossible, are signaled by herî.
Ew yek ji şaîr û nivîskarên herî bi
quwet ê mekteba “Hawar”ê bû.
Nêçirvanekî herî dilêr jî newirî bû bi
roj di nav re derbas bibûya.
KURMANJI KURDISH
28
He was one of the most powerful poets
and writers of the Hawar school.
Even a really intrepid hunter would not
have dared to pass through in the daytime.