Los comparativos y superlativos: Uso y forma

As the first week of the spring semester is over, Rachel, Amy’s housemate, bumps into her friend Juan. Toman el autobús juntos y hablan de sus clases. Listen to their conversation, and pay attention to the way in which they compare their classes. 

¿Comprendiste?

1. First, we’re going to discover what you understood from the conversation 

1. Which class is the most difficult for Juan? Why?
2. ¿Qué dos clases le gustan a Rachel? 
3. ¿Quién tiene las clases más difíciles? 
4. ¿Cuál es probablemente la especialización de Amy?

2. Now let’s focus on the structures used in the dialogue. What do you think is the difference (in degrees of similarity, more, or less) between these sentences? What are tan, más, and menos followed by?

1. “la clase de español es tan fácil como la clase de anatomía”
2. “Las clases de Amy son más difíciles que nuestras clases.”
3. “El español es definitivamente menos complicado que la física.”

Now let’s learn more about these structures. 

I. Los comparativos

Let’s start by focusing on how Rachel talks about Juan’s and Amy’s classes in the following sentence:

“Ella tiene más clases que tú.”

In this statement, Rachel is comparing the number of classes that Juan and Amy are taking, and she is saying that Amy has more classes than Juan. This is a comparison, and, in order to express it, we use a comparative o comparativo en español. We use comparativos to compare quantities (as in the example), qualities (when we try to establish the similarities and differences between two things), and frequency (when we compare two actions). Hay tres tipos de comparativos en español: superioridad (>), inferioridad (<) e igualdad (=). Let’s go through each of them and learn more about their uses.

A. Superioridad (>). To say that something is more than something else, you will use más and que. 

For qualities and quantities, you will compare the two subjects using: 

Más     +     noun/adjective/adverb     +     que

For frequency or intensity, you will use:  

Verb     +     más     +     que 

¡Ojo!

Spanish has two irregular forms to express “better than” and “less than”.

• When you want to express “…better than…” instead of saying “más bien” or “más bueno,” which are incorrect in Standard Spanish, you will use mejor.

• When you want to express “…worse than…” instead of saying “más malo” or “más mal,” which are incorrect in Standard Spanish, you will use peor.

B. Inferioridad (<). To say that something is less than something else, you will use menos and que. For qualities and quantities, you will compare the two subjects using:

menos     +     noun/adjective/adverb     +     que

For frequency or intensity, you will use:  

Verb     +     menos     +     que

C. Igualdad (=). To say that something is the same as something else, you will use tan/tanto/tanta/ tantos/tantas and como. This structure is a bit more complex, so let’s pay attention to the differences that exist when we use it with adjectives and adverbs or nouns. 

• With adjectives and adverbs, you will use

tan     +     adjective or adverb     +     como 

• When you use this structure with nouns, you will need to choose the form that matches the number (singular or plural) and gender (feminine or masculine) of the noun it modifies. Have a look at these examples, and try to come up with a simplified rule.

•  With verbs, whether they are singular or plural, you will use:

verb    +     tanto como

¿Comprendiste? Ahora que aprendemos los comparativos, respondemos las siguientes preguntas sobre la conversación entre Rachel y Juan. 

1. Rachel tiene ______ clases como Juan. 
2. Amy tiene ______ clases que Juan. 
3. Rachel estudia ______ como Amy.
4. La física es _________ complicada que el español. 
5. La anatomía es _________ fácil como el español. 
6. Rachel toma el autobús _______ como Juan. 

Now that we have a better understanding of comparatives, it’s time to learn about superlatives!

II. El superlativo

Let’s start by focusing on how Juan talks about his Spanish grammar class in the following sentence: 

“La clase de gramática española con el profesor Robles es la más difícil de todas.”

In this statement, Juan is comparing his Spanish grammar class to the rest of his classes (i.e, to a group). In order to do so, he is using a superlative (en español, un superlativo). We use it to express the highest quality or degree of a thing, person, action, etc. 

To express the most/ least, you use the following equation. Notice that the definite article is needed, and, therefore, it has to agree in number and gender with the noun it modifies.

el/la/los/las     +     (noun)     +      más/menos     +     adjective     +     de 

¡Ojo!

When you want to talk about the best or worst, we do not use “más” or “menos”. Instead, we use “mejor” and “peor,” and you modify their form to match the number of the noun they modify. Have a look at the following examples: 

• For best:

El/la/los/las     +     mejor / mejores     +     noun     +     de 

• For worst:

El/la/los/las     +     peor / peores     +     noun     +     de 

Now it’s time to use our new structures. Es hora de

Click on the following button to continue using your new structures and vocabulary.

Práctica individual

Now it’s time to learn more about Hispanic/Latinx cultural contributions. Vamos a: