Making comparisons In this slide show, well look at ways of expressing differences and similarities.

Three cases Look at these three sentences: –Fred is as tall as John. –Fred is taller than Bob. –Fred is the tallest in class. The first sentence describes a state of equality between two people. The second and third sentences describe the differences between one person and another (or others).

Equality Fred is as tall as Frank. When we say that two people (or places, or objects, etc.) are the same, we use as… as in English. How do we do this in Spanish?

Equality Paco es tan alto como Luis. Marta es tan alta como Ana. In Spanish, we use the words tan… como to express equality. In between these words, we insert an adjective or an adverb. Note that the adjective changes to agree with the first person (Paco/alto, Marta/alta) that we talk about.

Lets practice! Paco es rico. José es rico también (also). Paco es ___ ____ ___ José.

¡Muy bien! Paco es tan rico como José. Beti es guapa. Juana es guapa también. Beti es ___ ____ ____ Juana.

Otro más Beti es tan guapa como Juana. Roberto es gordo. Tomás es gordo. Diego es gordo. Roberto y Tomás son ___ ___ ___ Diego.

¡Muy bien! Roberto y Tomás son tan gordos como Diego. (We are comparing one group of two people with one person.) Did you remember to make gordos plural to agree with the plural subject (Roberto y Tomás)?

Inequality How about this idea? –Im not as tall as my brother. Yo no soy tan alto como mi hermano. Pretty easy, huh?

More expressions of equality We can also describe equality in terms of what people have, e.g., I dont have as many classes as my roommate or I dont have as much free time as my roommate. We use as many… as and as much… as in these cases.

Why? Both sentences have a noun between as… as: –I dont have as many classes as my roommate –I dont have as much free time as my roommate. How do we do this in Spanish? –No tengo tantas clases como mi compañero de cuarto. –No tengo tanto tiempo libre como mi compañero de cuarto.

Say what? We use a form of the word tanto (tanto, tanta, tantos, tantas) that agrees with the noun. –No tengo tantas clases como mi compañero de cuarto. Las clases > tantas –No tengo tanto tiempo libre como mi compañero de cuarto. El tiempo > tanto

Lets practice! Yo tengo 3 amigas. Mi hermano tiene 3 amigas. Yo tengo _____ ____ ____ mi hermano. Yo tengo tantas amigas como mi hermano.

More practice! Orlando trabaja 10 horas cada día. Gabriela trabaja 10 horas también. Orlando trabaja ____ ____ ____ Gabriela. Orlando trabaja tantas horas como Gabriela.

More practice! What do you do with a verb? When one action is done as much as another action, use tanto como…. Ejemplo: I (dont) study as much as she (does). (no) Estudio tanto como ella.

Los formularios de igualdad tan + adj + como Tanto/a/os/as + sustantivo + como Sujeto + verbo + tanto como + otra persona