COMPARING PEOPLE AND THINGS
To compare people or things in English, we use two affixes that we add directly to an adjective:
| tall | taller | tallest |
The good news is that in Inuktitut, you do more or less the same thing:
| takijuq | tall |
| takiniqsaq | taller |
| takilaaq | tallest |
| piujuq | good |
| piuniqsaq | better |
| piulaaq | best |
The only trick is that you need to drop the –juq / -tuq ending from the basic form of the adjective before adding -niqsaq or -laaq.
When –niqsaq is added to a stem ending in t, it changes the final t to n:
| naittuq | short |
| nainniqsaq | shorter |
When –laaq is added to a stem ending in a consonant, it deletes the final consonant:
| naittuq | short |
| nailaaq | the shortest |
In a full sentence, we normally would follow the words above with the verb -u / -ngu (to be) and the subject ending:
| angijuq | big |
| angilaaq | biggest |
| angilaangujuq | It is the biggest. |
| angilaangujunga | I am the biggest. |
To make a comparison, we then tack on the affix -mit to the person or thing to which a comparison is being made:
| Ilisapimit takiniqsaujunga. |
I am taller than Ilisapi. |
| amaruq qimmirmit anginiqsaq. |
The wolf is bigger than the dog. |
Note that in the last sentence above, when comparing an object in the third person, you have the option of dropping the -ujuq ending. The context makes the meaning of the sentence clear.
Keep in mind that when using personal pronouns to make comparisons, they don't follow a regular pattern:
| uvanga | me |
| uvannit | than me |
| Uvannit takiniqsaujutit. | You are taller than me. |
| ivvit | you |
| ilinnit | than you |
| Kinali ilinnit takiniqsauva? | And who is taller than you? |
| ilissik | the two of you |
| ilissinnit | than the two of you |
| Ilissinnit nainniqsaujuguk. | We two are shorter than the two of you. |