Superlatives ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery

In English, you form superlatives the most by using the phrases “the most” and the leastthe “the least” or by adding “the” before “–est the adjective with “–est” at the end. the most beautiful  Ana is the most beautiful girl in the class. the tallest  Juan is the tallest boy on the team. Ejemplos: ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery

 Ana es la (chica) más bonita de la clase. = (Ana is the most beautiful (girl) in this class.) In Spanish, you form superlatives with this construction: Ejemplo: ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery definite article (+ noun) + más/menos + adjective (+ de) Notice that chica (girl) is optional.

el (chico) más alto  Juan es el (chico) más alto del equipo. = (Juan is the tallest (boy) on the team.) los (estudiantes) menos  Ana y Juan son los (estudiantes) menos inteligentes inteligentes de la clase. = (Ana y Juan are the least intelligent (students) in the class.) la mujer más rica  Oprah es la mujer más rica de los Estados Unidos. = (Oprah is the richest woman in the United States.) The adjective and the definite article match the noun in both gender and number. Ejemplos: ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery

= (the best) = (the worst) = (the oldest) = (the youngest) When you want to say “the best,” “the worst,” “the oldest” or “the youngest,” use these irregular forms: Ejemplos: ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery el/la mejor el/la mejor el/la peor el/la peor el/la mayor el/la mayor el/la menor el/la menor los/las mejores los/las mejores los/las peores los/las peores los/las mayores los/las mayores los/las menores los/las menores

 Pablo es el mejor estudiante de la clase. = (Pablo is the best student in the class.)  Susana es la mayor profesora del grupo. = (Susana is the oldest in the group.)  Las canciones de Taylor Swift son las peores del mundo. = (Taylor Swift’s songs are the worst in the world.) Remember that the article and the adjective must agree with what they describe. Ejemplos: ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery

la mejor estudiante de la escuela  Cristina es la mejor estudiante de la escuela. = (Cristina is the best student in the school.) la peor novela  Esa es la peor novela. = (That is the worst novel.) The irregular forms mejor and peor usually come before the noun, and the irregular forms mayor and menor follow the noun. Note: Ejemplos: ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery

la hermana mayor  Victoria es la hermana mayor. = (Victoria is the oldest sister.) el menor de la clase  Paco es el menor de la clase. = (Paco is the youngest in the class.) Más ejemplos: ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery

ísima  Esta clase es buenísima. = (This class is really good.) ísima  La mujer es bellísima. = (The women is very beautiful.) ísimo  El libro es aburridísimo. = (The book is very boring.) ísimos  Los elefantes son grandísimos. = (The elephants are really big.) adjective + ísimo/a/os/as Another way to express extremes is to add the suffix ísimo/a/os/as to the adjective. Ejemplos: ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery Notice that the adjective agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies.

guapo → guapísimo (most handsome) If the adjective ends in a consonant, add the suffix to the singular form. If the adjective ends in a vowel, drop the final vowel before adding the suffix. fácil → facilísimo (very easy) ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery Ejemplo:

When the last consonant of the adjective is c, g or z, the spelling of the adjective changes.  c → qu simpático → simpatiquísimo (very nice)  g → gu largo → larguísimo (extremely long)  z → c feliz → felicísimo (very happy) ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery Ejemplos:

guapísimo  El Sr. López es un hombre guapísimo. = (Mr. López is a very handsome man.) riquísimo  El flan es un postre riquísimo. = (“Flan” is an extremely delicious dessert.) interesantísimo  El libro es interesantísimo. = (The book is very interesting.) dificilísimos  Los ejercicios son dificilísimos. = (The exercises are extremely difficult.) carísimas  Las chaquetas son carísimas. = (The jackets are very expensive.) ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery

Esta chaqueta es la más linda de la tienda. Esta tienda es la más elegante de Barcelona. Tomás es el más alto de la familia. Es una película buenísima. La pulsera es carísima. This jacket is the prettiest in the store. This store is the most elegant in Barcelona. Tomás is the tallest in the family. It is an extremely good movie. The bracelet is extremely expensive. Check Your Knowledge! ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery

©2010 Teacher’s Discovery Written by: Suzanne Rutkowski Gianna Mrozek Additional Information by: Adriana Miretti Search: Grammar PowerPoints To find more Spanish grammar presentations, go to: Search: Grammar PowerPoints™