Comparative and Superlative in Persian: -tar, -tarin, Better, Best

To make a comparative in Persian, add تر (-tar) to the adjective and use از (az) for “than”: علی از رضا بلندتر است (Ali az Rezâ bolandtar ast), “Ali is taller than Reza.” For the superlative, add ترین (-tarin) and put it before the noun: بزرگ‌ترین شهر (bozorgtarin shahr), “the biggest city.”

That is the whole system in two lines, and it is one of the friendliest parts of Persian grammar: no “more” versus “-er” choice, no spelling changes like big/bigger, and only one truly irregular adjective. Below you will find every pattern you need, the spoken forms Iranians actually use, the spelling rules for تر, the common learner mistakes, and practice with answers.

The three degrees at a glance

Persian adjectives have three forms. The base form is what you already know from adjectives and the ezâfe. The comparative adds -tar, the superlative adds -tarin.

Pronunciation tip: the stress moves to the new ending, so you say bozorg-TAR and bozorg-ta-RIN. Listen to the pattern: بزرگ‌تر Listen بزرگ‌ترین Listen

The comparative: -tar + az (“than”)

The basic sentence is X + az + Y + adjective-tar + verb. The word az normally means “from,” but in comparisons it means “than.”

In everyday speech, است (ast) shrinks to -e and attaches to the adjective, so بزرگ‌تر است becomes بزرگ‌تره (bozorgtare). You will hear the spoken form far more often than the written one. Our guide to spoken vs written Persian covers this shortening in detail.

Listen: امروز از دیروز گرم‌تره. Listen

Word order: az-phrase before or after?

The most natural order puts the az-phrase before the adjective: علی از رضا بلندتر است (Ali az Rezâ bolandtar ast). You can also put it after: علی بلندتر از رضا است (Ali bolandtar az Rezâ ast). Both are correct. The second order is common when the comparison is long or when the comparative is used before a noun, as in the next section.

The comparative before a noun

A comparative behaves like any other adjective: it comes after the noun and is linked with the ezâfe (-e / -ye).

• یک اتاق بزرگ‌تر دارید؟ (yek otâgh-e bozorgtar dârid?) Do you have a bigger room? Spoken: یه اتاق بزرگ‌تر دارین؟ (ye otâgh-e bozorgtar dârin?) Listen
• یه ماشین ارزون‌تر می‌خوام. (ye mâshin-e arzuntar mikhâm.) I want a cheaper car. (spoken; written یک ماشین ارزان‌تر می‌خواهم)
• خانه‌ی بزرگ‌تر (khâne-ye bozorgtar) a bigger house

This is useful at a hotel, in a shop or at the bazaar, where “a bigger one,” “a cheaper one” and “a smaller size” come up all the time.

Much bigger, a little cheaper: intensifiers

Note that خیلی (kheyli) means “very” with a base adjective but “much” with a comparative: خیلی بزرگ is “very big,” خیلی بزرگ‌تر is “much bigger.” Listen: خیلی بهتر Listen

Comparing with a whole clause: “than I thought”

When “than” is followed by a clause, Persian uses از چیزی که (az chizi ke), literally “than the thing that”:

• بهتر از چیزی بود که فکر می‌کردم. (behtar az chizi bud ke fekr mikardam.) It was better than I thought.
• Spoken: بهتر از اونی بود که فکر می‌کردم. (behtar az uni bud ke fekr mikardam.)

The irregular forms: behtar, bishtar and friends

Persian has very few irregulars. Learn these and you are done.

Listen: بهتر Listen بهترین Listen بیشتر Listen

More and less with verbs and nouns

Bishtar and kamtar also work as adverbs (“more,” “less”) and before nouns:

• مریم از علی بیشتر کتاب می‌خواند. (Maryam az Ali bishtar ketâb mikhânad.) Maryam reads more books than Ali. Spoken: مریم از علی بیشتر کتاب می‌خونه. (… mikhune.)
• باید کمتر قهوه بخورم. (bâyad kamtar ghahve bokhoram.) I should drink less coffee.
• پول بیشتر (pul-e bishtar) more money; وقت کمتر (vaght-e kamtar) less time
• بیشتر مردم (bishtar-e mardom) most people. With the ezâfe, bishtar-e means “most of.”

For “more than” with a number, formal Persian also uses بیش از (bish az): بیش از صد نفر آمدند (bish az sad nafar âmadand), “more than a hundred people came.” In conversation you will hear بیشتر از صد نفر اومدن (bishtar az sad nafar umadan).

How do you say “less + adjective”?

Persian has no suffix for “less.” Instead of “less expensive,” Iranians normally use the opposite adjective: ارزان‌تر (arzântar), “cheaper.” Do not build comparatives with bishtar or kamtar before an adjective (bishtar bozorg for “bigger” is wrong). The only common exception is compounds that already contain کم, such as کم‌اهمیت‌تر (kam-ahamiyyat-tar), “less important.”

The superlative: -tarin before the noun

Here is the one rule that trips up learners: a superlative goes before the noun, with no ezâfe between them. This is the opposite of ordinary adjectives.

• تهران بزرگ‌ترین شهر ایران است. (Tehrân bozorgtarin shahr-e Irân ast.) Tehran is the biggest city in Iran. Listen
• بهترین دوست من (behtarin dust-e man), spoken بهترین دوستم (behtarin dustam): my best friend Listen
• ارزان‌ترین بلیت (arzântarin belit) the cheapest ticket

Notice two things. First, Persian has no word for “the”; the superlative is definite by itself. Second, “in Iran” or “of the class” is attached to the noun with an ezâfe: شهر ایران (shahr-e Irân), literally “city of Iran.”

“One of the most …”: yeki az + plural noun

This pattern is everywhere in Persian news, travel writing and conversation. The noun must be plural, just like in English:

• اصفهان یکی از زیباترین شهرهای ایران است. (Esfahân yeki az zibâtarin shahrhâ-ye Irân ast.) Isfahan is one of the most beautiful cities in Iran. Listen
• یکی از مهم‌ترین مسائل (yeki az mohemtarin masâ’el) one of the most important issues

If you need a refresher on ها and other plural endings, see our post on Persian plurals.

The superlative on its own: “you’re the best”

A superlative can stand without a noun, especially in speech: تو بهترینی (to behtarini), “you’re the best.” Listen It is a warm thing to say to a friend; you will find more like it in our list of Persian compliments.

The other superlative: az hame + -tar (“of all”)

When the superlative would come at the end of a sentence (English “X is the best”), Persian usually prefers از همه (az hame, “than all”) with the comparative:

• این از همه بهتره. (in az hame behtare.) This one is the best (of all). Listen
• علی از همه بلندتر است. (Ali az hame bolandtar ast.) Ali is the tallest.
• از همه بیشتر (az hame bishtar) most of all

Both bozorgtarin shahr and az hame bozorgtar are natural. Use -tarin when a noun follows; use az hame + -tar when the adjective ends the sentence.

Formal Arabic superlatives

In formal writing you will meet a few superlatives borrowed from Arabic. They already mean “most,” so they never take -tarin. The two you will see daily are اکثر (aksar, “most, the majority”), as in اکثر مردم (aksar-e mardom, “most people”), and حداقل / حداکثر (hadd-e aghal / hadd-e aksar), “at least” and “at most.” In speech, bishtar-e mardom is the everyday choice.

“As … as” and “not as … as”

For equality, Persian has three common patterns.

To say “not as … as,” make the verb negative: علی به اندازه‌ی رضا بلند نیست (Ali be andâze-ye Rezâ boland nist), “Ali isn’t as tall as Reza.” With “good,” Iranians also say این فیلم به خوبی کتابش نیست (in film be khubi-ye ketâbash nist), “This film isn’t as good as the book.” Listen

For people of the same height or age, Persian has handy compounds with هم (ham, “same”): هم‌سن (ham-sen, the same age) and هم‌قد (ham-ghadd, the same height): ما هم‌سنیم (mâ ham-senim), “we’re the same age.”

Comparing actions: adverbs with -tar

Many Persian adverbs are the same words as adjectives, so they take -tar too. These come up constantly with learners:

• لطفاً آهسته‌تر صحبت کنید. (lotfan âheste-tar sohbat konid.) Please speak more slowly. Spoken: لطفاً یواش‌تر حرف بزنید. (lotfan yavâsh-tar harf bezanid.) Listen
• زودتر بیا. (zudtar biyâ.) Come earlier. / دیرتر (dirtar) later
• تندتر (tondtar) faster

Everyday expressions built on comparatives

Listen: بهتره بریم. Listen هر چه زودتر Listen

The pattern “the more …, the more …” uses هر چه (har che) with two comparatives: هر چه بیشتر تمرین کنی، بهتر حرف می‌زنی. (har che bishtar tamrin koni, behtar harf mizani.) “The more you practice, the better you speak.”

Older and younger: a family note

For siblings, Persian uses bigger and smaller, not older and younger: برادر بزرگ‌ترم (barâdar-e bozorgtaram), “my older brother,” and خواهر کوچک‌ترم (khâhar-e kuchektaram), “my younger sister.” بزرگ‌ترها (bozorgtar-hâ), “the bigger ones,” means the elders of a family, and respect for them is part of everyday taarof. For “older” about people, مسن‌تر (mosen-tar) is polite; پیرتر (pirtar) can sound blunt.

Spelling: بزرگتر or بزرگ‌تر?

You will see both. Here are the rules a careful writer follows:

• Standard style: write -tar and -tarin with a zero-width non-joiner (the “half space”), so the letters do not join but there is no gap: بزرگ‌تر, بزرگ‌ترین. This is what most publishers and the Academy of Persian Language and Literature recommend. Joined بزرگتر is common in casual typing and not a serious error. A full space (بزرگ تر) is best avoided, because the word can break across lines.
• Always separate after silent h: خسته‌تر (khaste-tar), تازه‌تر (tâze-tar). Joining here would turn the silent ه into a different-looking letter and is a real mistake.
• Separate after ت: سخت‌تر (sakht-tar), so the two t’s stay visible.
• After non-joining letters (ا، د، ذ، ر، ز، ژ، و) the question disappears, because those letters never join forward anyway: زیباتر, دورتر.
• Always joined: بهتر، بهترین، بیشتر، بیشترین. These are treated as single words. کمتر is usually joined too, though you will also see کم‌تر.

On a phone or computer, the half space has its own key on a standard Persian layout; try it with our online Persian keyboard.

Five common mistakes

1. Superlative after the noun. Not shahr-e bozorgtarin, but بزرگ‌ترین شهر (bozorgtarin shahr).
2. Using ke or tâ for “than.” “Than” is always از (az): Ali az Rezâ bolandtar ast.
3. Singular after “one of the.” Say یکی از بهترین فیلم‌ها (yeki az behtarin film-hâ), with the plural.
4. khubtar for “better.” Use بهتر (behtar).
5. “More” + adjective. English “more beautiful” is one word in Persian: زیباتر (zibâtar), not bishtar zibâ.

Want more practice with adjectives, the ezâfe and word order? Try the Persian grammar quiz, or work through these patterns step by step in Farsi Grammar in Use: For Beginners.

Common questions

How do you say “better” and “best” in Persian?

“Better” is بهتر (behtar) and “best” is بهترین (behtarin). They come from خوب (khub, good), the only irregular adjective in Persian. “It’s better” in speech is بهتره (behtare).

How do you say “more” and “most” in Persian?

“More” is بیشتر (bishtar) and “the most” is بیشترین (bishtarin). “Most people” is بیشتر مردم (bishtar-e mardom), or formally اکثر مردم (aksar-e mardom). For adjectives you do not use bishtar; you add -tar instead.

How do you form the superlative in Persian?

Add ترین (-tarin) to the adjective and put it before the noun without an ezâfe: قشنگ‌ترین روز (ghashangtarin ruz), “the most beautiful day.” At the end of a sentence, you can also use az hame + -tar: in az hame ghashangtar ast.

Is it بزرگتر or بزرگ‌تر?

Both are seen. The standard modern spelling uses a half space (zero-width non-joiner): بزرگ‌تر. After a silent h, as in خسته‌تر, the separation is required. بهتر and بیشتر are always written joined.

How do you say “as soon as possible” in Persian?

Say هر چه زودتر (har che zudtar), literally “whatever is earlier.” In casual speech you will also hear هر چی زودتر (har chi zudtar).

How do you say “my best friend” in Persian?

بهترین دوست من (behtarin dust-e man), or in everyday speech بهترین دوستم (behtarin dustam). For more on adjectives in general, see our step-by-step guide to Persian adjectives.

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