fi

Comparing with Fi

Level 2

Fi means ‘exceed’ or ‘surpass’; the quality expression supplies the comparison scale.

How It Works

The usual order is subject, subject-TAM marker, fi, comparison standard, and property. A named subject retains its agreeing marker. As a stative relation, fi normally takes completive marking even when English uses present tense.

The standard, property, or both can be omitted when context supplies them. Wannan ya fi does not inherently mean ‘This is better’: the situation determines what it exceeds and in what respect.

A lower degree can be expressed with kasa or negative kai ‘equal’. Compare Na fi ka tsawo ‘I am taller than you’ with Ban kai ka tsawo ba ‘I am not as tall as you’. Subject agreement follows the compared subject rather than the comparison standard.

Examples (3)

  1. Musa ya fi Ali tsawo.

    Musa is taller than Ali.

    Tsawo supplies the height scale.

  2. Wannan jaka ta fi waccan tsada.

    This bag is more expensive than that one.

    Ta agrees with feminine jaka.

  3. Na fi ka sauri.

    I am faster than you.

    Ka identifies a male listener as the standard.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

fiLevel 2Comparing with Fi

Learn This First

Recognize inherited affirmative completed subjects, ordinary negation and proximal or distal demonstrative standards before comparing a quality with fi or denying that a standard is reached. The local comparison ka is a short direct object identifying one male listener, distinct from independent kai.