Comparatives And Superlatives In Spanish: Ultimate Guide With Examples
When learning Spanish, it’s important to know how to compare things.
How to compare people and how to compare situations. This is what comparatives do.
Spring Spanish teacher Paulísima will explain everything you need to know about comparatives and superlatives in Spanish:
So, in this blog post, we’re going to understand comparatives and superlatives in Spanish in a simple way with many examples.
1. The comparative in Spanish – Basic structure
The comparative is used when we want to compare two things (people, objects, places, situations, etc.).
In Spanish, the most commonly used words to form comparatives are “más” (more) to indicate superiority and “menos” (less) for inferiority.
The basic structure is simple:
Más/menos + adjective/adverb/noun + verb QUE
What?
Don’t worry, we’ll go step by step.
2. Comparisons with adjectives
To compare characteristics, we use the structure “más… que” to indicate superiority. We use the structure “menos… que” to indicate inferiority.
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Examples:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| “Bart es más alto que Lisa. Por lo tanto, Lisa es menos alta que Bart.“ | “Bart is taller than Lisa. Therefore, Lisa is less tall than Bart.” |
| “Este otro libro es más interesante que este. Por lo tanto, este libro es menos interesante que este.“ | “This other book is more interesting than this one. Therefore, this book is less interesting than this one.” |
| “Tu casa es más grande que la mía. Por lo tanto, mi casa es menos grande que la tuya.“ | “Your house is bigger than mine. Therefore, my house is less big than yours.” |
| “Este cojín parece más cómodo que este. Por lo tanto, este cojín parece menos cómodo que este.“ | “This cushion seems more comfortable than this one. Therefore, this cushion seems less comfortable than this one.” |
| “El café está más caliente que el té. Por lo tanto, el té está menos caliente que el café.“ | “The coffee is hotter than the tea. Therefore, the tea is less hot than the coffee.” |
| “Ayer hizo más frío que hoy. Por lo tanto, hoy hace menos frío que ayer.“ | “Yesterday was colder than today. Therefore, today is less cold than yesterday.” |
3. Comparatives in Spanish with adverbs
Adverbs compare actions. Adverb comparatives are formed using “más” for superiority, “menos” for inferiority.
- Más + adverb + que: Indicates that an action is performed to a greater extent compared to another.
- Menos + adverb + que: Used to express that an action is performed to a lesser extent compared to another.
Examples:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| “Este coche consume gasolina más eficientemente que aquel. Aquel coche consume gasolina menos eficientemente que este.“ | “This car consumes gasoline more efficiently than that one. That car consumes gasoline less efficiently than this one.” |
| “Yo llegué más temprano que tú a la fiesta. Tú llegaste menos temprano que yo a la fiesta.“ | “I arrived earlier than you at the party. You arrived less early than me at the party.” |
| “Ellos hablan inglés más fluidamente que nosotros. Nosotros hablamos inglés menos fluidamente que ellos.“ | “They speak English more fluently than us. We speak English less fluently than them.” |
| “Estudio más frecuentemente que mi hermana. Mi hermana estudia menos frecuentemente que yo.“ | “I study more frequently than my sister. My sister studies less frequently than me.” |
| “Yo me levanto más tarde que mi mamá. Mi mamá se levanta menos tarde que yo.“ | “I wake up later than my mom. My mom wakes up less late than me.” |
| “Esta planta crece más rápido que esta. Esta planta árbol crece menos rápido que esta.“ | “This plant grows faster than this one. This tree plant grows less quickly than this one.” |
4. Comparative in Spanish of Nouns
The comparative of nouns is used to compare the quantity or number of objects, possessions, or things that two or more people or entities have.
The structure used is:
- Más + noun + que: Indicates that one person has more of something than another.
- Menos + noun + que: Indicates that one person has less of something than another.
Examples:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| “Mi hermana tiene más ropa que yo. Yo tengo menos ropa que mi hermana.“ | “My sister has more clothes than me. I have fewer clothes than my sister.” |
| “Yo tengo más aparatos electrónicos que mi papá. Mi papá tiene menos aparatos electrónicos que yo.“ | “I have more electronic devices than my dad. My dad has fewer electronic devices than me.” |
| “Esta tienda vende más libros que la otra. La otra tienda vende menos libros que esta.“ | “This store sells more books than the other one. The other store sells fewer books than this one.” |
| “El parque tiene más árboles que el jardín. El jardín tiene menos árboles que el parque.“ | “The park has more trees than the garden. The garden has fewer trees than the park.” |
| “Ana tiene más zapatos que María. María tiene menos zapatos que Ana.“ | “Ana has more shoes than Maria. Maria has fewer shoes than Ana.” |
| “Mi hermano tiene más videojuegos que yo. Yo tengo menos videojuegos que mi hermano.“ | “My brother has more video games than me. I have fewer video games than my brother.” |
5. Comparatives in Spanish with verbs
The comparative of verbs is used to compare the action or the amount of an action between two subjects or elements.
- verb + más que: Indicates that a person or thing performs the action in greater quantity or intensity than another.
- verb + menos que: Indicates that a person or thing performs the action in lesser quantity or intensity than another.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| “Mi sobrina habla más que yo. Yo hablo menos que mi sobrina.“ | “My niece talks more than me. I talk less than my niece.” |
| “Mi mamá cocina más que yo. Yo cocino menos que mi mamá.“ | “My mom cooks more than me. I cook less than my mom.” |
| “El sol brilla más que la luna. La luna brilla menos que el sol.“ | “The sun shines more than the moon. The moon shines less than the sun.” |
| “Este coche corre más que este. Este coche corre menos que este.“ | “This car runs faster than this one. This car runs slower than this one.” |
| “Él lee más que ella. Ella lee menos que él.“ | “He reads more than she does. She reads less than he does.” |
| “Tú comes más que yo. Yo como menos que tú.“ | “You eat more than me. I eat less than you.” |
6. Special Comparatives in Spanish
We don’t always say “más bueno” or “más malo.
Here’s how we do it:
- When something is “más bueno”, we usually say: “Es MEJOR”.
- “La pizza en Italia es mejor que en México.” (Pizza in Italy is better than in Mexico.)
- “Los tacos en México son mejores que en Italia.” (Tacos in Mexico are better than in Italy.)
Attention:
It’s never correct to say MÁS Mejor. Although many native speakers make this mistake!
- If something is “más malo”, we usually say:
- “La economía de Sudán del Sur es peor que la economía de Chad.” (The economy of South Sudan is worse than the economy of Chad.)
- “La economía de Madagascar es peor que la de Chad.” (The economy of Madagascar is worse than that of Chad.)
- To say that someone is “más grande” in age, we usually say they are MAYOR.
- “Bart es mayor que Lisa.” (Bart is older than Lisa.)
- “Homero es mayor que Bart.” (Homer is older than Bart.)
- And if someone is, speaking of age, “más pequeño” we usually say they are MENOR:
- “Lisa es menor que Bart.” (Lisa is younger than Bart.)
- “Bart es menor que Homero.” (Bart is younger than Homer.)
Remember:
We use “mayor” and “menor” mainly for age. If we’re talking about size, then we do use “más grande que” or “más pequeño que“.
For example:
- “Esta toalla es más grande que esta otra toalla.” (This towel is bigger than the other towel.)
- “Esta toalla es más pequeña que esta otra toalla.” (This towel is smaller than the other towel.)
7. An important detail about comparatives and superlatives in Spanish
Sometimes, especially with numbers or when comparing things in a slightly more elaborate way, we use “de” instead of “que”.
Examples with Numbers
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| “Teotihuacán debe tener más de mil años de antigüedad.“ | “Teotihuacan must be more than a thousand years old.” |
| “Había más de diez mil personas en el concierto.“ | “There were more than ten thousand people at the concert.” |
| “Mi amigo tiene más de cinco hermanos.“ | “My friend has more than five siblings.” |
| “Había más de veinte pájaros en el jardín.“ | “There were more than twenty birds in the garden.” |
| “En el estadio había más de cinco mil espectadores.“ | “There were more than five thousand spectators in the stadium.” |
| “Yo trabajo más de ocho horas al día.“ | “I work more than eight hours a day.” |
Examples when comparing phrases
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| “Tengo más libros de los que caben en mi estantería.“ | “I have more books than can fit on my bookshelf.” |
| “Mi abuelo tiene más anécdotas de las que puedo escuchar en una tarde.“ | “My grandfather has more anecdotes than I can listen to in an afternoon.” |
| “Este restaurante ofrece más opciones de las que puedo elegir.“ | “This restaurant offers more choices than I can choose from.” |
| “En la conferencia, hubo más presentaciones de las que esperaba.“ | “At the conference, there were more presentations than I expected.” |
| “Mi vecino tiene más plantas de las que puedo mantener en mi jardín.“ | “My neighbor has more plants than I can maintain in my garden.” |
| “La biblioteca tiene más ejemplares de los que puedo leer en un mes.“ | “The library has more copies than I can read in a month.” |
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