COMPARISON OF INEQUALITY
A. THE BASICS: In English we compare by adding “-er” to our adjectives or saying “more (adjective)”, such as “taller, smarter, more intelligent, more athletic, etc.” In Spanish to compare people or things use the following construction:
más (adjective) que more (_____) than
menos (adjective) que less (_____) than
MAKE SURE THE ADJECTIVE AGREES WITH THE SUBJECT OF THE SENTENCE.
EX: Juan es alto. José no es alto. María es muy atlética. Elena es un poco atlética.
Juan es más alto que José. María es más atlética que Elena.
José es menos alto que Juan. Elena es menos atlética que María.
B. THE IRREGULARS: There are some IRREGULAR COMPARISON words you need to know.
I n English, you don’t use “gooder or badder”. You use the irregular comparative words “better or worse”. Spanish also has two additional irregular comparative words—the words “older and younger.”
good = bueno better =mejor que
bad = malo worse =peor que
old = viejo older =mayor que
young = joven younger =menor que
NOTE: DON’T USE MÁS WITH THESE IRREGULARS.
(Think “more better”—YOU DON’T WANT TO SAY THAT!)
Examples:
1. Mi padre es mayor que mi madre. My dad is older than my mom.
2. Mi hermano es menor que yo. My brother is younger than I.
3. El español es mejor que el francés. Spanish is better than French.
4. La comida china es peor que la comida italiana. Chinese food is worse than Italian food.
C. WITH SPECIFIC NUMBERS: If you are comparing numbers of things, change the “que” to “de”.
Ex: Tengo más de 20 alumnos en mi clase. I have more than twenty students in my class.
¿Tienes más de 15 libros en tu lóquer? Do you have more than 15 books in your locker?
El Superlativo
A. THE BASICS: In English we can compare one thing/person to several others and say that it is “the MOST interesting IN the world”, the MOST intelligent OF all”, etc. In Spanish we do this with this construction:
[el, la, los or las] (*NOUN*) MÁS __adjective__ DE
**(The noun may be included. If you’re trying to say “she’s the prettiest GIRL in the class”, you would use the word “chica” in your sentence.) Ex: Marcela es LA (chica) MÁS bonita DE la clase.
**(The noun may be left out. If you’re saying “she’s the prettiest in the class”, you would leave out the word chica.) Ex: Marcela es LA MÁS bonita DE la clase.
Other examples: Mi madre es LA (persona) MÁS inteligente de mi familia.
La clase de español es LA (clase) MÁS divertida de todas mis clases.
B. THE IRREGULARS: The same four irregular forms of comparing exist in the superlative.
Do NOT use más with them.
best el
*mejor de worst el
*peor de oldest el
*mayor de youngest el
*menor de
*el changes to agree with subj.
COMPARISON OF EQUALITY
To compare two things or people are equally (adjective) or have an equal number of (objects), you will need to use the proper format.
For “as (adjective) as” use “TAN ADJECTIVE COMO”
For “as many (nouns) as” use “TANTO/TANTA/TANTOS/TANTAS OBJECTS COMO”
Examples:
Margarita is as tall as Mercedes. Margarita es TAN alta COMO Mercedes.
Margarita has as many books as Miguel. Margarita tiene TANTOS libros COMO Miguel.
TAN is always followed by an adjective. TANTO/A is followed by a noun.
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Tags: comparison, basics, inequality, english