Comparaciones

 

In Spanish, there are a few different ways to make comparisons. The way you choose will depend both on exactly the type of comparison you want to make (if you want to say something is bigger than as opposed to as big as…), and what you are trying to compare. Let’s consider the different ways to make comparisons in Spanish. First, we will see how to use the expressions “more” or “less” than, when comparing two things or persons. You may use these expressions with either qualities or with objects and things . These expressions follow a pattern, which you will see below.

más/menos + noun + que
Play Audio Juan tiene más libros que Pablo. drawing, two boys holding books
Play Audio Miguel tiene menos dinero que Ricardo.
Play Audio Pedro toma más clases que Samuel.
más/menos + adjective + que
Play Audio Vicente es más alto que Sergio. a short man to the right of a tall man
Play Audio Concepción es más linda que María.
Play Audio Víctor es menos inteligente que Sandra.
Play Audio Marisol es más tímida que su hermana.
Play Audio Mi carro es menos ruidoso que tu carro.
Play Audio La casa de Elena es más grande que mi casa.
Play Audio Madrid es más divertida

que Barcelona.

photo of Madrid at night

Foto: Zsolt Bugarszki CC BY-NC 2.0

There are a couple of exceptions to the above formulas. If you want to say that something is better or worse than something else, you will use mejor que or peor que. If you want to say that someone is older or younger than someone else, you will use mayor que or menor que. Take a look at the examples to see how these expressions are used.

In addition to what you just have learned, there are other ways in which you can compare people, places, or things. Rather than saying something is more or less than something else, you can say that someone is as intelligent as another person, that one car is not as big as another car, or that you have as many CDs as your best friend. First, we will look at how to compare the qualities of people or things, using the expression tan with an adjective, followed by como.

tan + adjective + como
Play Audio Luisa es tan inteligente como Marcos.
Play Audio Vera es tan alta como Manuel. drawing, man and woman of same height holding hands
Play Audio Mi mamá no es tan seria como mi hermana.
Play Audio El coche de César es tan nuevo como el coche de Carlos.

Now, we will look at how to make comparisons in terms of the number of things or people. If you want to say that you have as many books as your sister, or that your house doesn’t have as many rooms as your friend’s house, you will use the expression tanto/tantas + noun + como. This expression is slightly more difficult than the other ones that you have just learned because you have to pay attention to the agreement of gender and number. If you are talking about having as much money dinero as another person, you will use the masculine singular form tanto to agree with dinero. If you are talking about having as many blouses blusas as someone else, you will use the feminine singular form tantas to agree with blusas.

tantos/tantas + noun + como
Play Audio Emilio no tiene tantos libros como Ana.
Play Audio Bernardo tiene tantas penas como Sara.
Play Audio Mi casa tiene tantas habitaciones como la casa de Carla.
Play Audio Tenemos tantos amigos como Roberto y Enrique.

In all of the above examples, whether you are saying that something is more or less than, or whether you are saying that something is as much as, you have been comparing only two things. Now, we will look at how to compare more than two things, in order to say that someone is “the tallest” or the “most handsome” of all; in other words, we will be considering superlatives. When you are making this type of statement, you will use the definite article (el or la), and you will be using de instead of que. Take a look at a few of the examples below.

Play Audio Felipe es el más inteligente de toda su familia.
Play Audio Anabel es la más seria de todas mis amigas.
Play Audio Jorge es el menor.
Play Audio Yolanda es la más alta de todas sus hermanas. drawing, group of four women of different heights

Click on the videos and watch the tutorials to help you understand the construction of Spanish comparisons and superlatives.

 

 

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Spanish I: Copyright © by Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Cover photo by Patrick McDonald, “La Gitana” is licensed under CC-BY-NC. Available on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pat_mcdonald/8518195036/.

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