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Comparative and Superlative Adjectives - Adjetivos Comparativos y Superlativos (Médicos)

Comparative and Superlative - Theory (Teoría)

All degrees of comparison may be expressed in Spanish by adverbs. The comparative of superiority is expressed by using más, ' more,' immediately before the adjective or adverb, and the comparative of inferiority by using menos, ' less,' in the same manner.

bueno - good
más bueno - better
menos bueno - less good

temprano - early
más temprano - earlier
menos temprano - less early

aprisa - quickly
más aprisa - more quickly
menos aprisa - less quickly

The following four adjectives have, in addition to the regular, an irregular comparative:

bueno - goodSuperlativemejor - better

malo - badSuperlativepeor - worse

grande - largeSuperlativemayor - larger, older

pequeño - small Superlative menor - smaller, younger

The following four adverbs have also an irregular comparative:

mucho - muchSuperlativemás - more

poco - littleSuperlativemenos - less

bien - wellSuperlativemejor - better

mal - badlySuperlativepeor - worse

"Than" is ordinarily expressed by que.

Tengo más dinero que usted. - I have more money than you.
Él anda más aprisa que ella. - He walks faster than she.

Before numerals or numerical expressions, ' than ' is expressed by de in affirmative sentences and by either que or de in negative sentences.

Me dieron más de veinte pesos. - They gave me more than twenty dollars.
No tenía más que (or de) dos libros. - He didn't have more than two books.

Theory

When each member of the comparison has a different verb, or the second member of the comparison repeats the verb of the first, de is generally used for ' than ' in preference to que. Furthermore, if an adjective is the point of comparison, de is followed by the relative lo que (' that which '), and if a noun is the point of comparison, by the relatives el que, la que, los que, las que (' the one which,' ' those which ').

Es más bueno de lo que pensaban.
He is better than (that which) they thought.

Trajo menos de lo que prometió.
He brought less than he promised.

Tengo más dinero del que te presté.
I have more money than (that which) I loaned you.

Me compró menos libros de los que creí que me compraría.
He bought me less books than (those which) I thought he would buy me.

Comparison of Equality.
tan . . . . . como, as . . . . . as.
tanto (-a, -os, -as) . . . . . como, as much, as many . . . . . as.

Es tan bueno como lo esperaba. - It is as good as I expected.
No es tan fácil como usted cree. - It is not as easy as you believe.
Tiene tanto dinero como puede desear. - He has as much money as he can wish.
No creía que tenía tantas casas como usted. - I did not believe he had as many houses as you.

Cuanto . . . . . (tanto), followed by any comparatives, translate the English ' the more . . . . . the less,' ' the more . . . . . the more,' ' the less
. . . . . the less,' etc.

Cuanto más gana, (tanto) más gasta.
The more he earns, the more he spends.

Cuanto más le pidan, (tanto) más les dará.
The more you ask of him, the more he will give you.

More Theory

The Superlative Degree. The superlative degree of adjectives or adverbs is formed by putting the definite article or a possessive pronoun before the comparative. When el (la, lo) is used as the article, both the comparative and superlative have the same form.

PositiveSuperlativeComparativeSuperlativeSuperlative

bueno - goodSuperlativemejor - betterSuperlativeel mejor - best

rico - richSuperlativemás rico - richerSuperlativeel más rico - richest

aprisa - quicklySuperlativemás aprisa - more quicklySuperlativelo más aprisa - most quickly

Superlative

Ése es el más rico de todos. - That man is the richest of all.
Ésa es mi mejor pluma. - That is my best pen.
Ése es el más rico de los dos. - That man is the richer of the two.

After a superlative de is used for the English ' in.'

París es la ciudad más bella del mundo.
Paris is the most beautiful city in the world.

More Theory

The Absolute Superlative. The absolute superlative is expressed in two ways.

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

Examples

Rodrigo es el estudiante más inteligente de su clase.
Rodrigo is the most intelligent student in his class.

Rodrigo es el estudiante menos inteligente de su clase.
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:

El béisbol me parece aburridísimo.
Baseball seems very boring to me.

Estoy cansadísimo, ya no aguanto más.
I'm extremely tired, I can't take anymore.

Category: Medical Spanish

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