BASIC SPANISH: A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK

UNIT TEN

Comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives

In Unit 7 we saw that adjectives must agree in number and gender with the noun to which
they refer. By placing más or menos before adjectives and que after them we can make
comparisons as follows:

Juan es más alto que Pedro.

Juan is taller than Pedro.

Estas casas son más bonitas que ésas.

These houses are prettier than those.

Este abrigo es menos caro.

This coat is less expensive.

Los gatos son menos cariñosos que los perros.

Cats are less affectionate than dogs.

When making a comparison using pronouns, the subject pronoun (see Unit 1) must be
used after que:
e.g. (Yo) soy más fuerte que tú.
I am stronger than you.
(Nosotros) somos más ricos que ellos.
We are richer than them.

The comparisons can be further qualified by using the following adverbs before más or
menos:
mucho much/a lot
bastante quite/considerably
un pocoa little
algo rather/somewhat
e.g. Juan es mucho más inteligente que Pedro.
Juan is much more intelligent than Pedro.