Language/Spanish/Grammar/Comaratives-and-Superlatives

Comparatives and Superlatives

(Comparativos y Superlativos)

Comparatives and superlatives are used to make comparisons. They are a very important part of the grammar, and they are necessary when we want to express the equality or inequality of two or more nouns/pronouns or groups of nouns/pronouns. So this article is to explain how they are used in the Spanish language.

Comparatives

There are two kinds of comparatives.

Inequality comparatives

The structure for using inequality comparatives in Spanish is:

• Más [adjective / noun / adverb] que... (more [...] than).
• Menos [adjective / noun / adverb] que... (less [...] than).

Examples:

• Armando es más fuerte que Pedro (Armando is stronger than Pedro).
• Nosotros tenemos menos dinero que ellos (We have less money than them).

Equality comparatives

For the equality comparatives the structure is:

• Tan [adjective / adverb] como... / Igual de [adjective / adverb] que... (as [...] as).

Examples:

• México es tan hermoso como España (Mexico is as beautiful as Spain).
• El libro es igual de bueno que la película (The book is as good as the film).

Superlatives

There are two kinds of superlatives:

Relative superlatives

The structure for this kind of superlative is:

• [Article] [noun] más [adjective] de... (the most [...] of).
• [Article] [noun] menos [adjective] de... (the least [...] of).

NOTES: Remeber that the article will depend of the gender and the number of the noun / pronoun used. The noun is optional in this structure if the context allows us to infere it. The noun can be placed either after the particle más / menos or after the adjective.

Examples:

• Gabriela es la (estudiante) más lista de su clase (Gabriela is the smartest (student) of her class).
• Alejandro Magno es considerado uno de los más grandes (generales) de la historia (Alexander the Great is considered one of the greatest (generals) of history).

Absolute superlatives

Also known as the -ísimo adjectives.

• [Adjective] + ísimo / ísima / ísimos / ísimas.

NOTE: The usage of ísimo / ísima / ísimos / ísimas will depend of the gender and number of the noun / pronoun.

Example:

• Esta comida está buena (this food is good) >> Esta comida está buenísima (this food is so good).