Comparing Adjectives
In this lesson you'll learn how to compare things in Spanish. You'll also learn how to use the past participle of a verb as an adjective, and some suffixes that are used to create adjectives from nouns.
More common Spanish adjectives are also included in this lesson. An introduction to the use of adjectives in sentences is included in the Adjectives lesson.
Online flashcards and a quiz are included to help you learn the material covered in this lesson.
Spanish Grammar
Making Comparisons
In Spanish you use the adverbs más and menos to indicate that something has more or less of a quality. When comparing two items that are different, you use the following construction:
más/menos [adjective] que
more/less [adjective] than
Examples
| Esta montaña es más grande que aquella. | This mountain is bigger than that one. |
| Ana tiene más dinero que Lucía. | Ana has more money than Lucía. |
| Ana tiene menos dinero que Lucía. | Ana has less money than Lucía. |
Indicating the Most
To indicate that something has the most or least of a characteristic, the Spanish adverbs más and menos are also used, but in the following construction:
[noun] más/menos [adjective]
most/least [adjective] [noun]
Examples
| Es la casa más grande en la ciudad. | It is the largest house in the city. |
| Es la guitarra más cara de la tienda. | It is the most expensive guitar in the store. |
| Es la guitarra menos cara de la tienda. | It is the least expensive guitar in the store. |
| Es la casa más pequeña que he visto. | It's the smallest house I've ever seen. |
Creating Adjectives from Verbs
The past participles of many Spanish verbs can be used as adjectives. When a past participle is used as an adjective, it uses the same grammatical endings as other adjectives.
| irritar | verb |
|---|---|
| irritado | past participle |
| irritada | adjective (feminine singular) |
| irritadas | adjective (feminine plural) |
| irritado | adjective (masculine singular) |
| irritados | adjective (masculine plural) |
Examples
| Ella está irritada. | She is annoyed. |
| Él está irritado. | He is annoyed. |
| Las mujeres están irritadas. | The women are annoyed. |
| Los hombres están irritados. | The men are annoyed. |
Suffixes
There are a few suffixes that can be added to nouns to turn them into adjectives. Many of these adjectives have also been borrowed into English via French, so will be familiar.
These suffixes include:
- ible
- able
- oso
- al
- dad
Some examples of adjectives created with these suffixes are included in the vocabulary section of this lesson.
Spanish Vocabulary
| todo | all |
| irritado | annoyed |
| irritante | irritating |
| molesto | annoying |
| horrible | horrible, awful |
| aburrido | bored, boring |
| valiente | brave |
| ocupado | busy |
| tranquilo | quiet, calm |
| cuidadoso | careful |
| cauteloso | cautious |
| seguro | sure, safe, secure |
| cierto | certain |
| alegre | cheerful |
| limpio | clean |
| transparente | transparent, clear |
| claro | clear (voice, sound) |
| despejado | clear (not blocked) |
| cómodo | comfortable |
| cómun | common, mutual, ordinary |
| corriente | current, common |
| loco | crazy |
| lleno de gente | crowded |
| diferente | different |
| oscuro | dark, dim |
| sucio | dirty |
| temprano | early |
| vacío | empty |
| entero | entire |
| emocionado | excited |
| caro | expensive |
| gratis | free (no cost) |
| libre | free |
| amable | friendly, kind |
| simpático | nice, sympathetic |
| lleno | full |
| sano | healthy |
| útil | helpful, useful |
| horrible | horrible |
| herido | hurt, injured |
| importante | important |
| imposible | impossible |
| perezoso | lazy |
| pequeño | little, small |
| solitario | lonely |
| solo | alone |
| afortunado | lucky |
| principal | main |
| medio | mean, average, middle |
| mezquino | mean, petty |
| natural | natural |
| otro | other |
| popular | popular |
| poco común | rare, uncommon |
| auténtico | real, authentic |
| verdadero | true, real |
| reciente | recent |
| mismo | same |
| espantoso | scary |
| egoísta | selfish |
| brillante | shiny |
| tímido | shy |
| ridículo | ridiculous, silly |
| tonto | silly, foolish |
| soñoliento | sleepy |
| unos, unas | some |
| dolorido | sore, aching |
| doloroso | painful |
| extraño | strange |
| terrible | terrible |
| fuerte | strong |
| duro | hard, tough |
| insólito | unusual |
| raro | rare, unusual |
| disgustado | disgusted, displeased |
| preocupado | worried, upset, concerned |
| habitual | usual, habitual, regular |
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Flashcards
This section contains flashcards to help you learn the Spanish adjectives in this lesson.
Practice
Practice writing sentences with the Spanish adjectives included in this lesson. Make sure to use the correct grammatical endings on the adjectives.
Here is a text area where you can practice writing Spanish.
Quiz
Here is a quiz to help you learn the adjectives introduced in this lesson.