Comparisons and superlative terms in Burmese

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the

a-hla1 zone3 — prettiest

of them all? A judge's job is never easy. You cannot give a perfect score every time a contestant comes up on stage and starts gyrating in different fashion. You need to look for something special — a wanting smile, enchanting eye contact, a natural poise that captures your imagination, flowing movements in rhythm with every beat of the music, and a perfect choice of wardrobe that complements the figure well, and yet not too revealing.

Never compare yourself with the others, says the wise. Normally, the word "conceit" in English and ma2-na1 in Burmese is associated with someone who considers oneself to be superior than the others.

Interestingly, "Mana" in Pali language is the conceit "I" that not only compares oneself to be superior than the others. When one considers oneself equal to or inferior than the others, that is also conceit. All three types of comparisons are rooted in the false concept of "I" ego entity that keeps us binding in the cycle of suffering known as thun2-dtha1-ya2 (Samsara in Pali), according to the ancient wisdom.

However, for practical purposes, we cannot get away with words of comparisons. This is good. That is better. This one is the best. She is taller than I. He is the tallest and the biggest, and so on.

This is better, taller, bigger, worse, smaller, shorter

The burmese adjective word

po2

which roughly means "more", is used to describe that something or someone is better, taller, bigger, and so on. However, it should be noted that "more" in degree can go in either positive or negative direction. For example, "more short" means shorter. "More bad" means worse.

Try to see the pattern in sentence construction. The format is...

da2 po2 xxxx deare2

where you substitute xxxx with the adjective of your choice.

da2 po2 koun3 deare2

This is better. (this + more + good + affirmative)

da2 po2 hso3 deare2

This is worse. (this + more + bad + affirmative)

da2 po2 shay2 deare2

This is longer. (this + more + long + affirmative)

da2 po2 toh2 deare2

This is shorter. (this + more + short + affirmative)

da2 po2 kji3 deare2

This is bigger. (this + more + big + affirmative)

da2 po2 ngeare2 deare2

This is smaller. (this + more + small + affirmative)

Which one is better?

You should also learn to put comparisons in the form of questions. They follow the same pattern, so I will just give one example.

beare2 ha2 — which

po2 — more

koun3 — good

dtha1-leare3 — ?

beare2 ha2 po2 koun3 dtha1-leare3

Which (one) is better?

that which is

da2 (pronoun) means "this".

da2 (particle) is reference to the object "which is" or "that which is".

The example below shows how da2 modifies the adjective

po2 kji3 — bigger

into a noun phrase

po2 kji3 da2 — that which is bigger.

po2 — more

kji3 — big

da2 — that which is

lo2 chin2 — want

deare2 — affirmative

po2 kji3 da2 lo2 chin2 deare2

I want the bigger one.

po2 kji3 da2 po2 koun3 deare2

The bigger, the better. (more + big + "which is" + more + good + affirmative)

Bigger than this

In the above examples, I am pointing to something and say this is bigger, and so on. What if I want to say something is bigger than this that I am pointing at? In that case, you need to use

de2 htet — more than this

instead of da2 (this).

de2 htet po2 kji3 deare2

It's bigger than this. ("more than this" + more + big + affirmative)

de2 htet po2 koun3 deare2

It's better than this. ("more than this" + more + good + affirmative)

de2 htet po2 hso3 deare2

It's worse than this. ("more than this" + more + bad + affirmative)

Colder and hotter (warmer) than this

How's the weather in Toronto (compared to Yangon)?

de2 htet po2 ay3 deare2

It's colder than this. ("more than this" + more + cool + affirmative)

You can replace pronoun de2 (this) in the above sentence with the proper noun Yangon like this:

Yangon htet po2 ay3 deare2

It's colder than Yangon. (Yangon + more than or above + more + cool + affirmative)

We will now build up a longer sentence.

Toronto

ga1 — is (PPM that makes "Toronto" subject)

Yangon

htet — more than or above

po2 — more

ay3 — cool

deare2— affirmative

Toronto ga1 Yangon htet po2 ay3 deare2

Toronto is colder than Yangon.

Yangon ga1 Toronto htet po2 pu2 deare2

Yangon is warmer than Toronto.

Much colder than this

Actually, the weather in Toronto is much, much colder than Yangon. If you compare Yangon to Maymyo (Pyin Oo Lwin), a tourist attraction in Myanmar, it is quite appropriate to say

de2 htet po2 ay3 deare2.

But, if you compare Yangon to Toronto, it's better to stress that Toronto is "much" colder. The Burmese word for indefinite pronoun "much" in such a situation is

a-mya3-ji3.

It literally means "so many" or "great quantity".

de2 htet — more than this

a-mya3-ji3 — great quantity (equivalent to much more)

po2 — to exceed

ay3 — cool

deare2 — affirmative.

de2 htet a-mya3-ji3 po2 ay3 deare2

It's much colder than this!

Toronto ga1 Yangon htet a-mya3-ji3 po2 ay3 deare2

Toronto is much colder than Yangon.

So, you can say

ay3 deare2

if the object or the environment has a low temperature. Likewise,

pu2 deare2

means the object or the weather has a high temperature.

Burmese language has a different word if your body feels cold due to the weather. If you're shivering in sub-zero temperature, you say

chan3 deare2.

Perhaps, the more useful word that you can say is

ike deare2

if you are sweating under the sweltering heat in the hottest month around April in Myanmar.

Words such as "feel cold", "feel warm", "feel happy", and "feel sad" are one-syllable verbs. Those stand-alone verbs are not complete sentences by themselves, but the sense equivalent to English verbs "be" or "feel" is already included. In comparison, words such as "happy" "sad", "warm", and "cold" in English are adjectives.

So, in "feel cold" word chan3, "feel" is already included as opposed to adjective ay3 for "cold" weather.

Similarly,

pu2 lite da2 — The weather is so hot (to the extreme).

ike lite da2 — I feel so hot!

Be careful with pronunciation. pu2 is pronounced like poo2, not pa1-yu2.

This is the biggest one!

For superlatives in Burmese such as the best, the biggest, and the tallest, etc., the adjective is sandwiched between the prefix particle "a" and suffix particle "zone3" in this pattern:

a-xxxx zone3.

Examples:

a-kji3 zone3 — the biggest

a-myin1 zone3 — the tallest

a-shay2 zone3 — the longest

a-ay3 zone3 — the coldest

a-koun3 zone3 — the best

da2 — this

a-kji3 zone3 — the biggest

beare3 — exactly!

da2 a-kji3 zone3 beare3

This is the biggest!

Just like in English, superlatives in Burmese cover the extremes in both directions to include the best and the worst, the biggest and the smallest, the tallest and the shortest, and so on.

Examples:

a-thay3 zone3 — the smallest

a-toh2 zone3 — the shortest (for objects such as roads and ropes)

a-pu1 zone3 — the shortest (for height of a person)

a-pu2 zone3 — the hottest

a-hso3 zone3 — the worst

By the way, did you notice that there is just a slight tone difference between the shortest (person) and the hottest?

Comparing people

Instead of saying, "this is the best" in reference to the object, can we make comparisons between people? How would you say he is the best and the brightest?

thu2 — he or she

a-tau2 zone3 — the best and the brightest

beare3 — exactly!

thu2 a-tau2 zone3 beare3

He/she is the best and the brightest.

Superlatives in the form of questions

Just like "better", we will now learn to put superlative terms in the form of questions. Since the pattern is the same for such questions, I will give just one example.

beare2 ha2 — which "thing" (adjective)

a-koun3 zone3 — the best; good to the extreme position (adjective)

leare3 — ? (particle)

beare2 ha2 a-koun3 zone3 leare3

Which (one) is the best?

Who is the best?

Similarly, you can ask who is the best, the tallest, the shortest, or the brightest, etc..

beare2 dthu2 — who (which + person)

a-tau2 zone3 — the best and the brightest

leare3 — ?


beare2 dthu2 a-tau2 zone3 leare3

Who is the best?

When is the best time?

Here's an another useful question that you can ask.

beare2 a-chain2 — when (which + time)

a-koun3 zone3 — the best

leare3 — ?


beare2 a-chain2 a-koun3 zone3 leare3

When is the best time?

Superlatives as adverbs

It is possible to use the same superlative word as an adjective or an adverb depending on the sentence construction.

For example,

a-koun3 zone3 ah3-ga1-za3 dtha1-ma3

the best athlete (best [adjective] + athlete [noun])

a-koun3 zone3 loat pay3 ba2

Please do the best for me. (best [adverb] + do [verb] + request [particle])

In the second sentence, "the best" refers to "how" of the verb "do". So, it is an adverb.

Superlatives as nouns

It is also possible for superlatives to be used as nouns. Grade 11 Myanmar Grammar students are taught that to construct such a sentence, there MUST NOT be a noun adjacent to the superlative as in the best "athlete" example shown above.

It's like in English where "best" can be either an adjective as in the "best athlete", or the noun which refers to the person who is most outstanding.

Here is an example of literary Burmese sentence:

thit mya3 — wood (noun) + plural (particle)

dwin2 — equivalent to "in", "at", "among" (postpositional marker)

a-koun3 zone3 — best (noun)

dthi2 — equivalent to "is"; makes "best" the subject (postpositional marker)

kjoon3-thit — teak (noun)

pfyit dthi2 — be; happen to be (verb) + ending affirmative word (postpositional marker)

thit mya3 dwin2 a-koun3 zone3 dthi2 kjoon3-thit pfyit dthi2

Teak is the best among the woods.

Where is the highest mountain in the World?

Now, for the last part, we will build up the a-shay2 zone3 (longest) sentence of this lesson.

ga1-ba2 — the World

pau2 hma2 — on (equivalent to preposition "in")

a-myin1 zone3 — the tallest

toun2 — mountain

beare2 hma2 — where at

shi1 — exist

leare3 — ?

ga1-ba2 pau2 hma2 a-myin1 zone3 toun2 beare2 hma2 shi1 leare3

Where is the highest mountain in the World?