Spanish Comparisons

This lesson is about Spanish comparisons. To make comparions of inequality we used más (more than) or menos (less than). For this comparison English often uses the ending er (taller, higher, smaller.) Lets look at some more examples...

Más .... que (more...than)

Steve es más alto que Ana. (Steve is taller than Ana.)
Un perro pequinés es más pequeño que un pastor alemán. (A pekinese is smaller tan a german shepard.)

Menos ... que (less ... than)

Yo hablo menos inglés que usted. (I speak less English than you.)
Ellos tienen menos experiencia que nosotros. (They have less experience than us.)

If we want to point out a member or members of a group as "the most" or "the least" we used definite article + mas / menos. Some examples:

El más, la más, los más, las más (the most)

Hugo es el más alto. (Hugo is the tallest.)
Miriam es la más bonita. (Miriam is the prettiest.)
Ellos son los más fuertes. (They are the strongest.)
Ellas son las más simpaticas. (They are the nicest.)
Esa casa es la más vieja. (That house is the oldest.)
El carro rojo es el más caro. (The red car is the most expensive.)

El menos, la menos, los menos, las menos (the least)

Juan es el menos interesado. (Juan is the least interested.)
Este discurso es el menos apropiado. (This speech is the least appropiate.)
Esas calles son las menos transitadas. (These streets are the least busy.)
Esta ruta es la menos peligrosa. (This route is the least dangerous.)

To make comparisons of equality we used tan...como (as...as) and tanto...como (as much as / as many as). Let's look at some examples:

-To identify qualities that are or ar not equal:

tan .... como (as .... as)
no ... tan ..... como ( not ... as..... as)

Carlos es tan alto como Rodrigo. (Carlos is as tall as Rodrigo.)
México no es tan grande como Estados Unidos. (Mexico is not as big as the United States.)

-To equate quantities:

tanto .... como (as much as / as many as)
no ... tanto .... como (not as much as / not as many as)

Nosotros tenemos tanto equipaje como ellos. (We have as much luggage as them.)
Pedro no compra tanta ropa como Rosa. (Pedro dos not buy as much clothing as Rosa.)
Mi perro no ladra tanto como el perro de mi vecino. (My dog does not bark as much as my neighbor's dog.)
Roberto come tantos caramelos como Andrés. (Robert eats as much candy as Andres.)
Lila no tiene tantos juguetes como Luz. (Lila does not have as many toys as Luz.)
Yo no leo tantos libros como mi esposo. (I don't read as many books as my husband.)

Notice that this comparitive (tanto, tanta, tantos, tantas) agrees with the noun that follows in quantity and gender.

Bueno (good) and Malo (bad) are special comparatives in Spanish.

bueno (good) - mejor (better) - el / la mejor (best)

malo (bad) - peor (worse) - el / la peor (worst)

Lets see all the variations:

bueno/ buena / buenos / buenas (good)
mejor / mejores (better)
el mejor / la mejor / los mejores / las mejores (the best)

malo / mala / malos / malas (bad)
peor / peores (worse)
el peor / la peor / los peores / las peores (worst)

That covers most of the common Spanish comparisons.