The Elative Noun (اِسْمُ التَفْضِيل)

The Elative Noun (اِسْــمُ الـتَـفْـضِيـل) is a word used to show that one thing has a certain quality to a higher degree than others.

It covers both comparative (e.g., "better", "more beautiful") and superlative (e.g., "the best") meanings.

Formation Patterns

السماءُ أكْثَرُ زُرقَةً مِن البحرِ The sky is bluer than the sea

هِيَ الْكُبْرَى فِي الْعَائِلَةِ She is the eldest in the family

Example

Examples

الـحُوتُ أطْوَلُ مِنَ القِرْشِ The whale is longer than the shark

الـحُوتُ أكْثرُ طُولًا مِنَ القِرشِ The whale is longer than the shark

وَالِدَتِي عُـلْـيَا النِسَاء قَدْرًا My mother is the most esteemed of women in status

وَالِدَتِي أكثرُ علوّا في قَدْرِها مَنْزِلَتِها على غَيْرِها مِنَ النِّسَاءِ My mother has a higher standing and status than other women

هَاشِمٌ طَوِيلٌ وحَامِدٌ أطْوَلُ مِنْــهُ Hashim is tall, but Hamid is taller than him

هذه الفِكرَةُ جَمِيلةٌ ولَكِن فِكْرَةُ حَامدٍ أجملُ مِنْــها This idea is nice, but Hamid’s idea is nicer

مُـحَمَّدٌ أحْسَنُ طَالِبٍ في الفَصْلِ Muhammad is the best student in the class

Verbs that cannot form the Elative Noun

In Arabic, not all verbs can be directly transformed into the اسم التفضيل pattern. There are six types of verbs that are ineligible:

• ❌ Colors and Physical Defects: Verbs describing colors or physical traits/disabilities, e.g, حَمِرَ (to be red), عَوِرَ (to be one-eyed).
• ❌ Passive Verbs (مبني للمجهول): Verbs in the passive voice, e.g, فُهِمَ (was understood).
• ❌ Negative Verbs: Verbs accompanied by negation, e.g, ما صَعُبَ (did not become difficult) or لم يَعْلَمْ (did not know).
• ❌ Non-gradable Verbs: Actions that cannot vary in intensity or happen more than once, e.g, مَاتَ (died), هَلَكَ (perished), فَنِيَ (passed away).
• ❌ Incomplete Verbs (Af'al Naqisa): For example, كَانَ (to be) and its "sisters".
• ❌ Non-flexible Verbs (Jamid): Verbs that do not conjugate or change their form, e.g, بِئْسَ (miserable), نِعْمَ (wonderful), عَسَى (perhaps).