The Absolute Superlative
By the use of adverbs, emphatic prefixes, or both.
muy bueno, muy bien - very good, very well
elindo, retelindo - very pretty
regrande, retegrande - very big
muy rebonito - very very pretty
By the addition of the suffix -ísimo, added directly to adjectives or adverbs ending in consonants, and to those ending in vowels after dropping the vowel.
hábil - very skillfulSuperlativehabilísimo - more
querido - dearSuperlativequeridísimo - very dear
diligente - diligentSuperlativediligentísimo - very diligent
pronto - soonSuperlativeprontísimo - very soon
Orthographic changes may become necessary to keep the original consonantal sound before adding -ísimo.
rico - riquísimo
largo - larguísimo
When adjectives have ie or ue in the accented syllable, the shift of the accent may revert these to i, o.
bueno - buenísimo or bonísimo
nuevo - nuevísimo or novísimo
viejo - viejísimo
Adverbs with distinctive adverbial endings, such as -os, -a, transfer these endings to the superlative termination.
lejos - farSuperlativelejísimos - very far
cerca - nearSuperlativecerquísima - very near
Adverbs in -mente have the superlative suffix -ísima added to the original adjective form.
ricamente - richlySuperlativeriquísimamente - very richly
Rodrigo is the most intelligent student in his class.
Rodrigo is the least intelligent student in his class.
It is also common to hear expressions with some of the words implied, though not stated. For example:
Juan es el más alto. - Juan is the tallest.
The suffix -ísimo can be added to the end of adjectives to express an absolute superlative:
Baseball seems very boring to me.
I'm extremely tired, I can't take anymore.
GRADOS DE COMPARACIÓN COMPARATIVO Y SUPERLATIVO
Category: General Spanish