Comparative/Superlative Adjectives in Spanish Grammar
- Comparative Adjectives
- Superlative Adjectives
- Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms
- Online exercises to improve your Spanish
- Lingolia Plus Spanish
How to make comparisons in Spanish
The comparative and superlative forms of adjectives (los grados del adjetivo) allow us to compare two or more things.
We make comparisons in Spanish by using adjectives with words like más, menos and tan.
Learn about the different types of comparative and superlatives in Spanish grammar with Lingolia’s simple overview then put your knowledge to the test in the exercises.
Example

María es tan rápida como Carolina. Clara es más rápida que María. Clara es la más rápida. Clara es la corredora más rápida. Clara es rapidísima.
Comparative Adjectives
Comparatives allow us to compare two or more things. Spanish uses similar structures to English to make comparisons:
- más + adjective + que = more … than
- Example:
- Clara es más rápida que María.
- Clara is faster than Maria.
- menos + adjective + que = less … than
- Example:
- María es menos rápida que Clara.
- María is not as fast as Clara.
- tan + adjective + como = (just) as … as
- Example:
- María es tan rápida como Carolina.
- María is as fast as Carolina.
Remember: the adjective ending agrees in number and gender with the noun it describes.
Superlative Adjectives
Superlative adjectives show the highest level of a quality. In Spanish grammar, superlative adjectives can be relative or absolute.
The Relative Superlative
The relative superlative compares people, places or things against all others in the same group or category (the best, the worst, the most interesting …).
The Spanish superlative is formed as follows:
- el/la/los/las + más/menos + adjective = the most/least …
- Example:
- Clara es la más rápida.Clara is the fastest.
- Clara is the fastest.
- Clara es la corredora más rápida.
- Clara is the fastest runner.
- Carolina es la corredora más lenta.
- Carolina is the slowest runner.
- Sofía es la menos rápida del grupo.
- Sofía is the slowest in the group.
Remember: the adjective ending agrees in number and gender with the noun it describes.
Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms
Like in English, certain adjectives have completely irregular comparative and superlative forms:
Basic Adjective | Comparative | Superlative |
---|---|---|
bueno | mejor | el mejor u óptimo |
malo | peor | el peor o pésimo |
poco | menos | - |
mucho | más | - |
grande | mayor | el mayor o máximo |
pequeño | menor | el menor o minimo |
Some adjectives use a instead of que to form the comparative.
- Example:
- inferior asmaller than
- superior alarger than
- anterior abefore, earlier than …
- posterior aafter, later than …
The Absolute Superlative
The absolute superlative lets us express an extreme degree of a certain quality.
It is formed by adding -ísimo/-ísima/-ísimos/-ísimas to the word root of the adjective. We usually translate this with very, extremely, unbelievably, etc.
- Example:
- Clara es rapidísima. Clara is very/unbelievably/extremely fast.
- rápida → rapidísima
- Fue un examen facilísimo. It was a very easy exam.
- fácil → facilísimo
There are certain spelling exceptions to note when forming the absolute superlative:
Basic Adjective | Absolute Superlative |
---|---|
amable | amabilísimo |
antiguo | antiquísimo |
amplio | amplísimo |
célebre | celebérrimo |
cruel | crudelísimo |
cursi | cursilísimo |
fiel | fidelísimo |
fuerte | fortísimo |
joven | jovencísimo |
largo | larguísimo |
misero | misérrimo |
noble | nobilísimo |
pobre | paupérrimo |
rico | riquísimo |
sabio | sapientísimo |
sagrado | sacratísimo |
Adjectives with no comparative forms
Certain adjectives can’t be used in the comparative forms. These include colours, numbers, nationalities and adjectives with an absolute meaning: eterno, infinito, omnipotente, ilimitado, inmortal, único, muerto, difunto