Krahasues

Krahasues is the grammatical form in the Albanian language that expresses comparison between two entities, and it is typically referred to as the comparative degree. It is used to indicate that one attribute of a subject holds to a greater extent than the same attribute of another subject. In Albanian grammar, the krahasues is contrasted with the positive degree and the superlative.

Etymology and terminology: the term krahasues derives from the root krahas-, meaning to compare or place side by side, with the suffix -ues forming an agent or functional noun/adjective. The word is commonly described as the “comparative” degree in linguistic descriptions of Albanian, though some sources also describe related constructions under the broader category of degrees of comparison.

Formation and usage: the krahasues is usually formed with the particle më meaning “more” placed before the adjective or adverb and followed by se meaning “than.” For example, "Ai është më i madh se unë" (He is bigger than me) and "Ky makinë është më e shpejtë se ajo" (This car is faster than that). The morphemes may reflect gender and number in the agreement of the adjective (for instance, më i madh vs. më e madhe). Some adjectives and adverbs allow simpler periphrastic forms, depending on the syntactic style or regional variation.

Relation to other degrees: the krahasues is part of a three-grade system in Albanian grammar, alongside the positive degree and the superlative. The superlative often involves additional particles or determiner structures to indicate the highest degree of the attribute within a group.

See also: Albanian grammar, degrees of comparison, comparative.