Ch 7 · Lesson 19Spanish · Chapter 7 · Lesson 19 · Grammar primer

Mejor, peor, mayor, menor: the irregular comparatives

Better, worse, older and younger have their own words: , . For size, .

The short version

Mayor is for age, is for size

My brother is older than me.

Why?

Four adjectives have dedicated comparatives: gives , gives , gives mayor, gives . Use mayor and for age and for abstract greater-than. For sheer physical bulk Spanish reaches for instead, so means physically bigger, not older.

The four irregular comparatives

morethe samethe part that agrees or changesWhat do the colours mean?

Four adjectives have their own comparative forms. and (well, badly) share the first two:

Adjective	Comparative	English
,		better
,		worse
(age)		older, greater
(age)		younger, lesser

. - This book is better than the other one.
. - He sings worse than me.

They do not change for gender, only for number:

. - These books are better.
. - My younger brothers live here.

and are for age (and abstract size: , a bigger problem). For physical size, say and :

A friendly family tree drawn on a big green tree: the grandmother and grandfather at the top; below them their son (the father) with the mother beside him, and the father's brother (the uncle); at the bottom, the parents' two children, a smiling girl with a sparkle and her younger brother.

Meaning	Spanish	English
age	`.`	My brother is older than me.
size	`.`	This house is bigger.
kindness	`.`	He's kindness itself (lit. better than bread).

is not wrong, but it means kinder (or, in speech, tastier), not better in quality.

Mistakes English speakers make

Wrong	Right	Why
(better)		better in quality is
(older)		older is mayor
		a number takes
		goes with
		subject pronoun after
		before a noun, agrees
		in the group is

normally means physically bigger; children and some Latin American speakers also use it for age, but is the standard.

Going further: Comparatives at a glance and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.

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Lesson 19 of 25 in this chapter

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What do the colours mean?