Mate

"Te" comparisons

Comparisons of unequal degree, where one thing is more and one thing is less, use the verb te.
Te means "to be more than" or "to be compared to". It can also be used on its own as a preverb, meaning "more" or "-er".

The pattern for comparisons is:

[subject] — te — (object) — [stative verb]

Or alternatively:

[subject] — [stative verb]— te — (object)

For example:

• Wa te bo.
  [this] [more] [good]
  "This is better."

• Wa te ya bo.
  [this] [more than] [that] [good]
  "This is better than that."

• Wa bo te ya.
  [this] [good] [more than] [that]
  "This is better than that."

• Sing te hai xu.
  [lightning] [more than] [fire] [hot]
  "Lightning is hotter than fire."

• Kum da te kin.
  [bear] [big] [more than] [dog]
  "Bears are bigger than dogs."

To say "even more than", one places the adverb ai, "also", after te.

• Sing te ai hai xu.
  [lightning] [more than] [even] [fire] [hot]
  "Lightning is even hotter than fire."

To say "less … than" or "not as … as", the adverb na "not" is placed after the stative verb.

• Kin te kum da na.
  [dog] [more than] [bear] [big] [not]
  "Dogs aren't as big as bears."

Superlatives

To form a superlative, the adverb to, “all”, is placed after te.

• Wa te to bo.
  [this] [more than] [all] [good]
  "This is the best."

• Wa te to bo na.
  [this] [more than] [all] [good] [not]
  "This is the least good."

Adverbs

Comparative phrases can be made into adverbs with the adverbial particle sa.

• Si dan sa te mi sau.
  [you] [walk] [adverb] [more than] [I] [fast]
  "You walk faster than me."

They can be also be made into adverbs without sa if the te + [noun] phrase comes before the main verb.

• Si te mi dan sau.
  [you] [more than] [I] [walk] [fast]
  "You walk faster than me."

• Si te mi ca nal mai ya.
  [you] [more than] [I] [know] [talk about] [much] [this]
  "You know more about that than I do."

  • Si ca nal ya sa mai te mi.
    [you] [know] [talk about] [that]
    [adverb] [much] [more than] [I]
    "You know more about that than I do."

• O te mi ba ho da.
  [he/she] [more than] [I] [talk] [make sound] [big]
  "He/she talks louder than me."

  • O ba sa ho da te mi.
    [he/she] [speak] [adverb] [make sound] [big] [more than] [I]
    "He/she talks louder than me."

• Seng yol te xu yol bang fa.
  [cold] [of year] [more than] [heat] [of year] [have lots of] [rain]
  "There's more rain in winter than in summer."

• O te yalik wit peng ai jim.
  [he/she] [more than] [teacher] [finger] [skillful] [even] [string instrument]
  "He/she plays guitar even better than his/her teacher."

  • O wit jim sa peng ai te yalik.
    [he/she] [finger] [string instrument]
    [adverb] [skillful] [even] [than] [teacher]
    "He/she plays guitar even better than his/her teacher."

"Um" Comparisons

To make a comparison where two things are of the same degree, e.g. “as … as …”, one uses the adverb um, "equally" or "mutually".
To say "just as … as", one adds the adverb to after um.

The pattern for equal comparisons is:

noun₁ — u — noun₂ — stative verb — um

For example:

• Tap wa u tel da um.
  [rock] [this] [and] [house] [big] [equally]
  "This rock is as big as a house."

• Yadong u yalik peng um to.
  [learner] [and] [teacher] [skilled] [equally] [all]
  "The student is just as clever as the teacher."

• Mi u Ális ta di nuk meng um.
  [I] [and] [Alice] [in] [land] [strange] [lost] [equally]
  "I'm as lost as Alice in Wonderland."

To subordinate the comparison, the following pattern is used:

noun₁ — i — noun₂ — stative verb — um

• tap i tel da um
  [rock] [relativizer] [house] [big] [equally]
  "a rock that is as big as a house"

• yadong i yalik peng um to
  [learner] [relativizer] [teacher] [clever] [equally] [all]
  "a student who is just as clever as the teacher"

"Com" comparisons

To express "too much, excessively", one uses the verb com, which means "to go beyond", "to surpass", "to exceed".
(As a deverbal noun, it also means "beyond, the other side".)

When used with a verb that has negative connotations, this means "too much". But when used with an adjective that has positive connotations, it means "extremely" or "super".

The pattern for these comparisons is:

subject — com — (object) — verb

• Dek hi com mik.
  [mat] [lying down] [exceed] [soft]
  "The mattress is too soft."

• Mim pi ya sa com aun.
  [we] [arrive at] [there] [adverb] [exceed] [late]
  "We got there too late."

• Tai wa com mi kot.
  [tea] [this] [exceed] [I] [bitter]
  "This tea is too bitter for me."

• Num ba com yadong so meng.
  [rule] [language] [exceed] [student] [do] [confusion]
  "The grammar is too confusing for the students."

Negation

There are two ways to negate com. The first means "not too …", and the second means "not … enough".

• com na [stative verb]
  "not too …", "not that".

  • Com na a xi da.
    [too] [not] [be] [matter] [great]
    "It's not that important."

  • Wa com na keng.
    [this] [too] [not] [bad]
    "This isn't half bad."

• com [stative verb] na
  "not … enough"

  • Yel com am na.
    [road] [too] [wide] [not]
    "The road isn't wide enough."

  • Lat bau com xaun na.
    [rice] [red] [too] [spicy] [not]
    "The jollof isn't spicy enough."

"Lai" comparisons

The verb lai means "to be like". It is used with active verbs to mean "as … as".

• seng lai kung
  "as cold as ice"

• niban lai tap.
  [stay still] [like] [stone]
  "as still as a stone"

• Mui sen i o so cem wam lai ul am.
  [stuff] [kind] [of] [he/she] [do] [change] [random] [like] [water] [wide]
  "His/her temperament is as fickle as the sea."