This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
Comparisons
mas, ol mas
To express that something has a certain property to a higher degree than something else, place the quantifier mas ‘more’ before an adjective or adverb. The compared entity is introduced using the preposition cem ‘than, as’.
Ya i mas kawi cem makika (ya). – She is stronger than her brother.
Bal makika [run] ku mas sari cem ya. – But the brother runs faster than she.
Keep in mind that determiners such as mas are placed after markers such as ku (which can be considered as introducing an adverbial phrase).
Mas can also be used before nouns:
Mas jen li lai cem nas (li) [expect]. – More people came than we had expected.
To express the superlative – a higher degree than everything else – ol mas ‘most’ is used. This can be considered an abbreviation of mas … cem ol otra ‘more than all others’.
Ya i ol mas kawi. – She is the strongest.
men, ol men
The opposite of mas is men ‘less, fewer’.
Ya i men [intelligent] cem [wife] (ya). – He’s less intelligent than his wife.
Men jen li lai cem nas (li) [expect]. – Fewer people came than we had expected.
Ol men ‘least’ is used in the same way as ol mas.
XXX Add example, including the selection preposition (de ‘of’?).
tan
For expressions of equality, tan … cem ‘as … as’ is used:
Ya i tan gau cem makika (ya). – She’s as tall as her brother.
Ya pia [run] ku tan sari cem makika. – She also runs as fast as her brother.
As usual, tan can also be used before nouns:
Tan jen li lai cem nas (li) [expect]. – As many people came as we had expected.
mas ... mas, men ... men
If you want to express that two things change in correlation to each other, you repeat mas before each of them.
Mas garam, mas hau. – The hotter, the better.
Mas malo jen ga miru o si, mas hau. – The fewer people will see this, the better.
Either or both instances of mas can be replaced by men as appropriate.
Men [money], men [problem/trouble]. – Less money, fewer problems.