COMPARATIVOS Y SUPERLATIVOS Mrs. O. Pacheco Spanish I

¡Es fácil comparar en español! b La casa es grande. El granero es más grande que la casa. El castillo es el más grande de todos.

¡Otro ejemplo! Esta flor es bonita. Esta flor es más bonita que la otra. Esta flor es la más bonita del jardín.

!Cómo usar menos! Este dinosaurio es feroz. Este dinosaurio es menos feroz que el otro. Este dinosaurio es el menos feroz del mundo.

Formas irregulares Bueno, malo, viejo, y joven tienen formas de comparativos y superlativos irregulares. Bueno MejorViejo Mayor Malo PeorJoven Menor

Bueno La manzana es buena. El plátano es mejor que la manzana. Las cerezas son las mejores de todas las frutas

Malo El chocolate caliente es malo. El té es peor que el chocolate caliente. El café es el peor de todas las bebidas calientes.

Viejo El abuelo es viejo. El padre es mayor que la madre. El abuelo es el mayor de la familia.

Joven Los hijos son jóvenes. La madre es menor que el padre. El hijo es el menor de todos.

Más o menos con números Hay más de cinco elefantes. Hay menos de siete elefantes. Nota: Para decir more than o less than con números se usa más de o menos de.

Práctica Escribe frases comparativas y superlativas.

programas cómicos/divertido/las noticias Los programas cómicos son más divertidos que las noticias.

me gusta/jugo de naranja/jugo de manzana Me gusta el jugo de naranja más que el jugo de manzana. (o) Me gusta el jugo de naranja menos que el jugo de manzana.

guisantes/delicioso/ verduras Los guisantes son los más deliciosos de las verduras.

hay/ cinco botellas/mesa Hay más de cinco botellas en la mesa. (o) Hay menos de cinco botellas en la mesa.

películas del oeste/interesante/películas de terror Las películas del oeste son más interesantes que las películas de terror. (o) Las películas del oeste son menos interesantes que las películas de terror.

discos compactos/bueno/cintas Los discos compactos son mejores que las cintas.

Beatles/malo/Rolling Stones Los Beatles son peores que los Rolling Stones.

Sammy Sosa/jugador/popular/Mark McGuire Sammy Sosa es un jugador más popular que Mark McGuire.

libros/malo/revistas Los libros son peores que las revistas.

Mi hermana/viejo/mi hermano Mi hermana es mayor que mi hermano.

Kennedy/joven/todos los presidentes.

Hay/20 estudiantes/en la clase

Comparación de Igualdad b b In English, we often compare two items that have the same characteristics. We might say that the two items are alike or equal. b b When we are talking about two characteristics with equal qualities, we use the expression as…as in English. To compare equal qualities in Spanish, we use tan…como with either an adjective or an adverb. The adjective or adverb comes in between tan and como. – –John is as tall as I am.Juan es tan alto como yo. – –We play as well as he.Nosotros jugamos tan bien como él.

Review: what are adjectives? b b Adjectives Adjectives are used to describe, or in grammatical terms to qualify, nouns and other expressions. In English, adjectives precede the noun unless for special effects. In Spanish, the general rule is that most adjectives when used literally to define a noun follow the noun. Adjectives must agree in number and gender with the noun they are qualifying. A few adjectives always precede the noun: Adjective English translation Mucho much/many Tanto so much/so many varios (always plural) several otro*(an) Other Poco little/few Demasiado too much/many cada (invariable)each *Note: In Spanish 'un(a)' ('one', 'a', 'an') cannot precede 'otro/a'. So, for example, 'another book' is simply 'otro libro' with no 'un' in front. 'The other book', however, is 'el otro libro'

Adjectives b b Dropping the 'o' in adjectives A few common adjectives drop the final 'o' when used immediately in front of a masculine singular noun. This is called apocopation. AdjectiveTranslationExampleTranslation Uno*a/oneTengo un hijoI have a son. NingunoNoneDe nigún interésOf no interest MaloBadEstá de mal humor.Hes in a bad mood. TerceroThirdEl tercer pisoThe third floor AlgunoSomeAlgún díaSome day BuenoGoodUn buen libroA good book PrimeroFirstEl primer hijoThe first child

Adjectives b b *Note: Spanish makes no distinction between 'a' and 'one'. So 'Tengo un hermano' can mean 'I have a brother' or 'I have one brother'. b b In answer to the question '¿Cuántos hermanos tienes?' (How many brothers do you have?') the answer could be 'Tengo un hermano' or 'Tengo uno'. In the latter case, 'uno' is used as there is no noun following.

Behaviour of some other adjectives b b 'Grande' is shortened to 'gran' when used before both masculine and feminine singular nouns, usually with the meaning of 'great'. For example: 'un gran hombre' is 'a great man'. Compare 'el río grande' - 'the big river'. b b In addition, all of the possessive adjectives such as 'mi', 'tu', 'su' naturally precede the noun. (see below)

Adjective agreement b b Adjectives agree with the noun which they qualify. b b That is, if a noun is feminine singular, the adjective which qualifies it must be made feminine singular. If a noun is masculine plural, any adjective in agreement must also be masculine plural. b b The form of the adjective which appears in a dictionary is the masculine singular form. If the adjective ends in an 'o', change the 'o' to an 'a' to make it feminine. If the adjective ends in an 'e' or a consonant, there is no change. However, adjectives of nationality ending in a consonant do add an 'a'. For example: b b 'escocés' (Scottish, masculine) b b 'escocesa' (Scottish, feminine)

Making adjectives plural b b To make adjectives plural, add 's' to the singular if it ends in a vowel, or 'es' if it ends in a consonant. For example: b b Un hombre rico - hombres ricos (a rich man/rich men) b b Un libro interesante - libros interesantes (an interesting book/interesting books) b b Un coche azul - coches azules (a blue car/blue cars) b b Una casa blanca - casas blancas (a white house/white houses) b b Una chica inteligente - chicas inteligentes (a clever girl/clever girls) b b Una lección difícil - lecciones difíciles (a difficult lesson/difficult lessons)

Possessive adjectives b b Possessive adjectives are the words 'my', 'your', 'his'/'her' etc in English. In Spanish, they too have to agree with the noun which follows them, as they are adjectives. b b They are arranged here as first, second and third persons, singular and plural. In this form they always precede the noun.

Possessive adjectives SingularPluralEnglish translation MiMisMy TuTusYour (informal, singular) SuSusYour (formal, singular), her, his Nuestro (a)Nuestros(as)Ours (male & female) Vuestro(a)Vuestros(as)Your (informal, plural) (male & female) SuSusTheir, your (formal plural)

Review: Adverbs b b Adverbs are used to modify verbs, or to say how actions are performed. b b In English, adverbs can generally be recognised by the ending of '-ly'. The most common way of forming an adverb in Spanish is to add '-mente' to the feminine singular form of an adjective. b b Unlike adjectives, the endings of adverbs never change.

Examples Adjective/adverbEnglish translation Lentoslow lentamenteslowly rápidoquick rápidamentequickly normal normalmentenormally general generalmentegenerally

Adverbs which do not end in '-mente' b b Some common adverbs which do not end in '-mente' are: b b Adverb > English translation bien > well mal > badly despacio > slowly (more common than 'lentamente')

'Much' and 'too much' b b Both 'mucho' ('much', 'many') and 'demasiado' ('too much', 'too many') can be used either as adjectives or as adverbs. When used as adjectives, they must agree with the nouns they describe; when used as adverbs the ending never changes. b b For example: Tengo muchos libros. I have many books. (adjective) La mujer trabaja mucho. The woman works hard. (adverb) Tengo demasiados libros. I have too many books. (adjective) La mujer trabaja demasiado. The woman works too much. (adverb)

Comparing equal quantities b b When we are talking about two characteristics with equal quanities, we use as much…as or as many…as in English. To compare equal quantities in Spanish, wwe use tanto…como with nouns. The noun comes in between tanto and como. Because tanto is an adjective it has to agree with the noun it modifies. Therefore, there are four forms: tanto, tantos, tanta, tantas. – –I have as many cars as he has. – –Yo tengo tantos carros como él. – –he has as much money as I. – –Él tiene tanto dinero como yo.

Review: what are nouns? b b 'Nouns are the types of words which give the names of things, people, places, happenings and ideas… Nouns can be singular (referring to one thing) or plural (referring to many).' (LILT 2001) b b All nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine, even those referring to objects or things. b b In Spanish, nouns which end in 'o' or refer to a male human or animal are almost always masculine. b b Nouns which end in 'a' or refer to a female human or animal are almost always feminine.

Nouns b b However, there are exceptions, such as: 'el dentista' - the dentist ('the female dentist' would be 'la dentista') 'el mapa' - the map 'el día' - the day 'la mano' - the hand 'la foto' - the photo

Nouns endings b b Nouns ending in '-ión', '-dad', '-tad' and '-tud' are almost always feminine. Examples include 'la canción' (the song) and 'la cuidad' (the city). Common exceptions to this are 'el avión' ('the aeroplane') and 'el camión' ('the lorry'). b b However not all nouns indicate their gender by their ending or meaning, so it is important to learn the gender along with the noun. For example, 'la flor' ('the flower') is feminine; 'el guante' ('the glove') is masculine; 'la clase' ('the class') is feminine.

Plurals (nouns) b b In Spanish if a noun ends in an unstressed vowel, add an 's' to make it plural. If a noun ends in a consonant or a stressed vowel, add '-es'. This '-es' is always pronounced as a separate syllable. b b Examples: b b 'cafés' - cafés or coffees b b 'tes' - teas

EL FIN b b Click on link for more practice.