Comparative/Superlative Adjectives in Spanish Grammar

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:

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:

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