When we compare, we consider the similarities or dissimilarities between two or more things, people, feelings, or ideas. There are three types of comparative sentences, depending on whether we compare two or more elements and the degree of similarity of the compared elements. Also, the kinds of words we are comparing (, , …) can affect how we build comparative sentences in Spanish.
For instance, my brother, Juan, and I recently bought our first homes. Here’s how both homes are compared:
1. Comparison of inequality | Mi casa es más grande que la casa de Juan. My house is bigger than Juan’s. |
2. Comparison of equality | Mi casa tiene tantas habitaciones como la de Juan. My house has as many rooms as Juan’s. |
3. Superlatives | Mi casa es la más grande de la calle. My house is the biggest in the street. |
Ready to know more details? Let’s go!
When we compare elements that are not equal, we use the word más ("more") to express “more than” or menos ("less") to express “less than”. This is equivalent to English “more/less...than” or suffix “-er” in “bigger than…,” “stronger than…,” etc. The type of we use is different depending on the type of elements we are comparing. Let’s compare two similar elements (e.g. two houses) in terms of their qualities, or what they have.
With adjectives, nouns, and adverbs, we use the following model:
element 1 + verb + más/menos ("more/less") + adjective/noun/adverb + que ("than") + element 2 |
Let’s see some examples:
element 1 | verb | más/menos | adjective/noun/ adverb | que | element 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
La casa de Juan Juan’s house | es is | menos less | grande big (adjective) | que than | mi casa. my house. |
Mi casa My house | tiene has | más more | espacio space (noun) | que than | la casa de Juan. Juan’s house. |
Mi casa My house | se limpia is cleaned | más more | fácilmente easily (adverb) | que than | la casa de Juan. Juan’s house. |
Don’t forget that when you use adjectives in Spanish, they have to match the and of the noun they modify. For instance:
La casa de mi abuela es más bonita que la mía.
My grandmother's house is prettier than mine.
If you want to use a possessive pronoun like English “…than mine/yours/his, etc.” in Spanish, you’ll use a long possessive pronoun preceded by a definite article:
Click the link for more on Spanish possessive pronouns.
Sometimes, it’s not necessary to mention the second comparing element if, by context, we know what the element is being compared to.
Mi casa es más cómoda.
My house is more comfortable.
If the first element is a and it's omitted, then the first thing you'll see is the verb:
Tengo más libros que Ramón.
I have more books than Ramon.
We can also compare two qualities instead of two elements using the same formula. In this case, element 2 will be an adjective:
Juan es más humilde que orgulloso.
Juan is more humble than proud.
With numbers, we use de ("of, from") instead of que. De is placed between más/menos and the number.
Mi casa tiene más de 2000 pies cuadrados.
My house is more than 2000 square feet.
La casa de Juan tiene menos de 2000 pies cuadrados.
Juan’s house is less than 2000 square feet.
In negative sentences, más que is an equivalent of solo or solamente ("only") and does not indicate comparison:
No tiene más que quince años.
He’s only fifteen.
Some adjectives and adverbs when combined with más have an irregular form:
Más + adjective | becomes | Irregular form | Translations |
|---|---|---|---|
bueno/a good | → | mejor
| better, best |
malo/a bad | → | peor
| worse, worst |
viejo/a old | → | mayor
| older, oldest |
joven young | → | menor
| younger, youngest |
grande large | → | mayor
| larger, largest |
pequeño/a small | → | menor
| younger, youngest |
When talking about size, it’s more common to use “más grande/pequeño” than “mayor/menor.” Mayor/menor are mostly used in the sense of “older/younger.”
Más + adjective | becomes | Irregular form | Translations |
|---|---|---|---|
bien well | → | mejor | better |
mal badly | → | peor | worse |
más bueno/a can occasionally be used to highlight someone’s goodness.
más malo/a can occasionally be used to highlight someone’s wickedness.
Anita es más buena que un ángel.
Anita is kinder than an angel.
Be careful with the pronouns we use when comparing people. For instance, if we want to say, “He is better than me” it should not be X “Él es mejor que me/mí,” but:
O Él es mejor que yo.
We use subject pronouns in Spanish on both sides of the comparison.
There is another type of comparison where instead of comparing two similar elements (e.g. two houses, two people, etc.), you can compare a single element to another . For example, instead of comparing my house to Juan’s, I can say that “my house is bigger than what I expected”:
Mi casa es más grande de lo que esperaba.
In English, the equivalent of these comparisons is “than what…(e.g. I expected/knew/need)”
Just like above, we can make comparisons in terms of qualities or things. In these cases we are going to use “de + definite article + que” to introduce the clause, but there are some slight variations depending on the type of word we bring the focus to, so let’s break them down.
When we want to say that our element has more or fewer “of something than…,” we use the following model:
element + verb + más/menos + noun + de + definite article + que + clause |
For example:
element & verb | más/menos | noun | de + definite article + que | clause (verb) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mi casa tiene My house has | más more | espacio space | del que than (what) | necesito. I need. |
Mi casa tiene My house has | menos fewer | ventanas windows | de las que than (what) | quería. I wanted. |
In this case, the Spanish definite article (el/la/los/las) after de will agree in gender and number with the noun we’re focusing on.
Noun | de + definite article + que |
masculine, singular → | del que
|
If the focus is on describing the element or an action related to the element, then we can use an adjective or an adverb using the following formula:
element + verb + más/menos + adjective/adverb + de lo que + clause |
For example:
element & verb | más/menos | adjective/
| de lo que | clause (verb) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
La casa de Juan es Juan’s house is | más more | grande big (adjective) | de lo que than (what) | habíamos imaginado. we had imagined. |
La casa de Juan se limpia Juan’s house is cleaned | más more | fácilmente easily (adverb) | de lo que than (what) | pensábamos. we thought. |
In this case, “de lo que” is invariable, no need for agreement!
Similarly, we can bring a verb as the element of focus, also using invariable “de lo que,” in the following model:
verb + más/menos + de lo que + clause |
For example:
verb | más/menos | de lo que | clause (verb) |
|---|---|---|---|
Llueve It rains | menos less | de lo que than (what) | habíamos esperado. we had expected. |
(él) Gasta He spends | más more | de lo que than (what) | gana. he earns. |
When we compare two elements that are equal, use: tan or tanto/a/os/as...como (equivalent to English "as (many/much)…as") instead of más/menos…que.
To compare how many/much of “something” the elements have, use this model:
element 1 + verb + tanto/tanta/tantos/tantas + noun + como + element 2 |
For example:
element 1 | verb | tanto | noun | como | element 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mi casa My house | tiene has | tantas as many | recamaras rooms | como as | la casa de Juan. Juan’s house. |
Mi casa My house | tiene has | tanto as much | espacio room | como as | la casa de Juan. Juan’s house. |
➜ Don’t forget that the form of tanto has to match the gender and number of the following noun.
tanto | noun |
|---|---|
tanto → tanta → tantos → tantas → | masculine, singular |
To refer to qualities, use the invariable “tan,” as seen in this model:
element 1 + verb + tan + adjective/adverb + como + element 2 |
For example:
element 1 | verb | tan | adjective/adverb | como | element 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mi casa My house | es is | tan as | grande big | como as | la casa de Juan. Juan’s house. |
Mi casa My house | se limpia is cleaned | tan as | fácilmente easy | como as | la casa de Juan. Juan’s house. |
Tanto como can be used on its own as an adverb meaning “as much as”:
No estudia tanto como yo.
She doesn’t study as much as I do.
We use superlatives with adjectives when we want to highlight a quality of a noun, describing someone or something, above or below the rest. The English equivalent is "the most/least + adjective" or suffix -est (“smallest”). Superlatives are built differently depending on whether the noun we are comparing is the of the sentence or not.
When the noun we are highlighting is not the subject of the sentence, superlatives are placed after the verb like this:
definite article + noun + más/menos + adjective + (de + group) |
For example:
Yo tengo la casa más grande de la ciudad.
I have the biggest house in the city.
definite article | noun | más/menos | adjective | de + group
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
la the | casa house | más more | grande big | (de la ciudad) (of the city) |
When the subject of the sentence is the element we are highlighting, we can omit the noun after the article:
definite article + más/menos + adjective + (de + group) |
For example:
Mi casa es la (casa) más grande de la ciudad.
My house is the biggest in the city.
definite article | más/menos | adjective | de + group
|
|---|---|---|---|
la | más | grande | (de la ciudad) |
Remember that even when we omit the noun, the article still has to agree in gender and number with the subject.
Él es el más inteligente de la clase.
He’s the most intelligent boy in class.
The irregular comparatives that we saw before also work to form irregular superlatives, but when used as superlatives, they need to be preceded by a definite article. For instance:
Mi equipo es el mejor del mundo.
My team is the best in the world.
Also, superlatives el/la/los/las más grande/s and el/la/los/las más pequeño/s become el/la/los/las mayor/es ("the oldest") and el/la/los/las menor/es ("the youngest") only when they refer to age:
María es la menor y Rosa y Beatriz son las mayores.
María is the youngest, whereas Rosa and Beatriz are the oldest.
Adding -ísimo/a/os/as to adjectives enhances the quality of the superlative:
Mi casa es grandísima.
My house is very big.
If the adjective ends in a consonant, simply add -ísimo:
fácil → facilísimo ("easy → very easy")If it ends in a vowel, just drop the last vowel and attach -ísimo:
buen¡Estas galletas están buenísimas!
These cookies are so good!
Comparisons of inequality:
When we compare two elements, we use más/menos…que in all cases.
When we compare an element to a verb, we use de lo que.
If the focus is a noun, we use del/de la/de los/de las que agreeing with the noun.
Comparisons of equality:
We use como ("as") in all cases.
We use tanto/a/os/as ("as much/many") before nouns.
We use tan ("as") before adjectives and adverbs.
Superlatives:
We use the definite article and más/menos in all cases.
When the subject of the sentence is not the highlighted element, we add the noun after the definite article.
When the subject of the sentence is the highlighted element, the noun can be omitted after the definite article.
Here are some activities to practice what we’ve learned (answer key included!)
