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Spanish 2 Unit 9: Comparisons and Superlatives

This unit teaches you to compare people, things and actions, and to say that something is the most or extremely good, big or fast.

Covers: Comparisons of inequality (más/menos ... que), Comparisons of equality (tan ... como, tanto ... como), Irregular comparatives (mejor, peor, mayor, menor), Más de and menos de with numbers, Superlatives (el más ... de), Absolute superlative -ísimo

Study guide

To say that something has more or less of a quality than something else, use más or menos + adjective, adverb or noun + que. Mi hermana es más alta que yo (my sister is taller than I am). Este curso es menos difícil que ese (this course is less difficult than that one). Tengo más tarea que tú (I have more homework than you). The adjective still agrees with the noun it describes: las montañas son más altas que los edificios. With verbs, place más que or menos que after the verb: estudio más que mi hermano. One important exception: before a number, use de instead of que, as in hay más de veinte personas (there are more than twenty people).

Comparisons of equality use two different structures. With adjectives and adverbs, use tan + adjective or adverb + como: Ana es tan inteligente como Luis, corro tan rápido como tú. With nouns, use tanto + noun + como, and tanto agrees with the noun in gender and number: tanto dinero, tanta paciencia, tantos libros, tantas clases como tú. With verbs, use tanto como after the verb, and here tanto never changes: trabajo tanto como mi padre. Students often mix these up, so check what follows: an adjective or adverb takes tan, a noun takes an agreeing tanto, and a verb is followed by tanto como.

A few comparatives are irregular. Bueno and bien become mejor (better), and malo and mal become peor (worse); never say más bueno for quality or más mejor. Mayor and menor mean older and younger when comparing people: mi hermano mayor, soy menor que mi prima. For the physical size of things, Spanish usually uses más grande and más pequeño. Mejor and peor normally go before the noun (la mejor película), while mayor and menor usually follow it (mi hermana menor). These forms add -es in the plural: mejores, peores, mayores, menores.

To single something out as the most or least within a group, use the superlative: definite article + (noun) + más or menos + adjective + de + group. Es la ciudad más grande del país (it's the biggest city in the country). Note that Spanish uses de where English uses in. With irregular forms: es el mejor estudiante de la clase. The absolute superlative, with -ísimo, means extremely without comparing: rápido → rapidísimo, fácil → facilísimo. Drop a final vowel before adding -ísimo, and keep the sound with spelling changes: rico → riquísimo, largo → larguísimo, feliz → felicísimo. It agrees like any adjective: una clase interesantísima.

Key ideas

• Use más or menos + quality + que for unequal comparisons.
• Use más de or menos de before numbers.
• Use tan ... como with adjectives and adverbs and tanto ... como with nouns.
• Tanto agrees with a noun but is invariable after a verb.
• Mejor, peor, mayor and menor are irregular comparatives.
• Superlatives use el/la/los/las + más + adjective + de.
• -ísimo means extremely and may need spelling changes.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Using como for inequality, as in más alto como.
• Using que before a number, as in más que diez.
• Saying más bueno or más mejor instead of mejor.
• Using en instead of de in superlatives, as in el mejor en la clase.
• Forgetting agreement with tanto before nouns, as in tanto personas.

Before the test, make sure you can

• Form comparisons of inequality with adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verbs.
• Use más de and menos de before numbers.
• Form comparisons of equality with tan, tanto and tanto como.
• Use mejor, peor, mayor and menor correctly.
• Form superlatives with de to name the group.
• Form absolute superlatives with -ísimo and spelling changes.
• Compare people or things from data given in a sentence.

Words to know

más

more

menos

less

tan

as, so

tanto

as much

mejor

better

peor

worse

mayor

older

menor

younger

alto

tall

bajo

short

rápido

fast

lento

slow

caro

expensive

barato

cheap

fácil

easy

difícil

difficult

trabajador

hardworking

perezoso

lazy

tímido

shy

simpático

nice

paciente

patient

Sample practice questions

30 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.