Spanish Comparatives
Spanish comparisons use three core structures: ... for more-than, ... for less-than, ... for as-as. Four common adjectives skip the regular construction in favour of dedicated comparative forms.
The three structures
Superiority (more than): más + adjective + que
- María Juan. (Maria is taller than Juan.)
- . (This book is more interesting than that one.)
- . (I run faster than my brother.)
Inferiority (less than): menos + adjective + que
- Juan María. (Juan is less tall than Maria.)
- . (This house is less expensive than the other one.)
- . (I speak Spanish less well than her.)
Equality (as... as): tan + adjective + como
- Juan Pedro. (Juan is as tall as Pedro.)
- . (My car is as fast as yours.)
- . (He speaks Spanish as well as a native.)
The adjective still agrees with the noun in gender and number: son .
Comparing nouns and quantities
For "more X than" where X is a noun, the construction is / + noun + .
- . (I have more books than you.)
- . (There are fewer people here than yesterday.)
For equality with nouns, becomes /a//as and agrees with the noun.
- . (I have as many books as you.)
- . (There's as much water here as in the river.)
When the comparison involves a number, becomes .
- . (I have more than five euros.)
- . (There are fewer than twenty people.)
The four irregular comparatives
Four common adjectives have dedicated comparative forms that replace the regular más + adjective construction.
| Adjective | Comparative | English |
|---|---|---|
| better | ||
| worse | ||
| mayor | older / greater | |
| younger / lesser |
- . (This book is better than the other.)
- . (The situation is worse than yesterday.)
- mayor yo. (My brother is older than me.)
- yo. (My sister is younger than me.)
Mayor and are used for age and abstract greater-than / lesser-than. For physical size, Spanish reaches for and instead.
- . (This house is bigger than mine - physical size.)
- mayor. (She's my older sister - age.)
These four comparatives don't change for gender, only for number: , , , .
The superlative (briefly)
The superlative ("the most / the least") uses / / / + + adjective.
- María . (Maria is the tallest in the class.)
- he . (This is the most interesting book I've read.)
Note that "in" or "of" the group is , not en: , not "la más alta en la clase".
The irregular comparatives also serve as superlatives:
- . (It's the best restaurant in the city.)
- mayor . (My eldest son studies law.)
There's also an absolute superlative formed with the suffix -ísimo/a (altísimo - extremely tall), covered in the intermediate Spanish grammar page.
Worked examples
- Madrid Barcelona. (Madrid is bigger than Barcelona.)
- . (Coffee is less expensive than tea here.)
- . (I speak French as well as Spanish.)
- . (I have more than three brothers.)
- mayor . (My mother is the eldest in the family.)
- . (This is the worst day of my life.)
Common mistakes English speakers make
Using when is the right form: it's , not "es más bueno que el otro". Using for age: yo means physically bigger; for older, it's mayor yo. And forgetting that numbers take , not que: , not "más que cinco".
See also
- The Spanish grammar cheatsheet covers the wider A1-B1 foundation.
- The intermediate Spanish grammar page covers absolute superlatives and the full comparative system.