German to Hindi: preserve the comparison rather than copy its adjective ending
A Hindi comparison need not reproduce a German adjective ending
The German IDS lesson presents comparative and superlative forms such as besser and am besten, as well as the regular ending patterns. These forms distinguish an ordinary description from a comparison and a highest-degree claim. Translating the underlying descriptive word alone can lose that difference.
Rupert Snell’s Hindi grammar describes comparisons using an ordinary adjective with se marking the comparison’s reference point, and superlatives with sabse. The target adjective therefore need not grow a counterpart of a German comparative ending to express the intended comparison.
For a German accommodation enquiry, a statement that one room is larger than another should remain a comparison, even if its Hindi adjective resembles a dictionary form. A statement that a room is large supplies no equivalent ranking by itself. Check the construction around the adjective before deciding that the comparative meaning has disappeared.
An agreement change is not automatically a comparison
Snell separately describes Hindi adjective agreement: adjectives of the illustrated -ā class change for masculine plural and feminine reference, while other adjectives remain unchanged for those features. Those changes and the comparison construction perform different jobs.
A German sentence can also combine descriptive grammar and comparison. IDS distinguishes the comparative ending from an additional inflectional ending in attributive use. Reading every visible ending as a separate more or most would overstate the source; ignoring the comparison because the adjective also agrees would understate it.
Imagine a German customer comparing a larger room with two smaller rooms for a family visit. Number, the noun each description belongs to, and the size comparison all matter. A Hindi ending associated with agreement does not identify which room is the comparison standard, and a correctly expressed comparison does not excuse attaching the description to the wrong room.
Recover what is being compared, not just the word than
The Hindi grammar also lists se among ordinary postpositions with meanings such as by, with and from. Its use in a comparison must be understood through that construction. A short se expression found in the target is not automatically evidence of a size, price or quality comparison.
In an original German booking exchange, distinguish a room being cheaper than another room from an offer received from a particular host. The first establishes a price relationship; the second identifies a source. Treating every target se phrase as the reference point of a comparison would mix those relationships.
Finally, preserve the comparison’s scope. Cheaper than the first offer does not establish cheapest among all available offers. A Hindi sabse construction should not be introduced simply because the writer prefers one option. Establish whether the German source compares two named options, uses another baseline or makes a claim about a whole set.
Read the target back as a booking decision: which option has which property, compared with what, and is the claim relative or highest in the stated set? These answers test the comparison more reliably than counting adjective endings in the two languages.
Language references